Shawn Ashmore's work on the 'X-Men' movies helped him in his role for new video game 'Quantum Break'.
Shawn Ashmore in Quantum Break
The 36-year-old actor was given the task of bringing protagonist Jack Joyce to life in the ground-breaking Microsoft Studios third-person shooter which is split between normal gameplay and a live action TV show that players watch and make choices from in order to decide how the story finishes.
Ashmore played Iceman in four 'X-Men' films and admits his green screen acting experience helped him focus his imagination when he was acting out the motion capture scenes for game developer Remedy Entertainment.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "The similar thing between making 'Quantum Break' and 'X-Men' is that you're interacting with things that don't exist. The motion capture stage of 'Quantum Break' was totally different to doing stunts and visual effects on the 'X-Men' set because for a movie all the cameras and lighting is there and there are lots of things to work off whereas with motion capture you're in your own little bubble there's nothing to stimulate you other than your imagination and the concept art.
"But what is similar to the 'X-Men' films is that you just have to imagine that you're in that space. I had to imagine I was shooting ice out of my arms as Iceman and as Jack I had to imagine I was propelling this time stop bubble to defeat my enemies."
Ashmore loved every moment of making 'Quantum Break' and has revealed he spent more time as Jack than he has on any other character he has ever played on the big or small screen.
He explained: "I worked on the game for over two years, which is the longest I've ever spent on one single project. With 'X-Men' I spent years and years working on that but that was for more multiple films. "This was really a long process but really that's the difference between the video game medium and television or film, it just takes a lot longer. I liked it because we would shoot more sporadically, with a film you start day one and the train doesn't stop and you're going full speed and you can't stop until you're finished. Whereas the game process we would shoot the motion capture in Los Angeles with all the actors together for say four or five days and then a couple of weeks later we would got to Helsinki in Finland to do the facial capture so essentially you're shooting the scenes twice. There's also so much dialogue to record, self-narration and character interaction. Much more than on a film."
'Quantum Break' - which also features Aiden Gillen as character Paul Serene - is out now for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One.