Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3 was a colossal undertaking in every aspect, especially when it came to its performances. For the RPG, every character was voiced and performance captured with Astarion actor Neil Newbon working multiple positions on the beloved game.
Alongside playing the iconic role of Astarion and motion performing his own character, Newbon also provided cinematic and gameplay motion capture for a host of other characters. It’s a lot of work, a hell of a lot, and the amount of work the actor put into Larian’s game led to a period of burnout during its development.
Speaking to FRVR, Newbon discussed this period of burnout, explaining that burnout can still occur even when you’re having the time of your life. “I think it’s one of the best jobs I’ve ever done,” he said, “and it’s definitely one of the best character I’ve ever played. It’s four and a half years of performance capture and motion capture and also consulting and directing as well. So it’s the most work I’ve ever done for a project.”
“It’s hard not to love doing it, but you sometimes have to take a break from doing it because you love doing it. It’s stupid.”
Neil Newbon on burning out on jobs you love
Newbon explained that he was still passionate for the project and loved his incredibly involved role in the project, but even then burnout still reared its head. “I had two days of burning out severely,” he said. “Larian were amazing and PitStop [Productions, the production house] were amazing at looking after me.” While Newbon was adamant that he could come back into work, he was forced to take time off to recover.
“I physically burnt out once or twice, that was pretty heavy, but I never went, ‘Oh, I have to go back into work today’. It was never like that,” he said. “It was actually the opposite. It was actually, like, the best part of the day was I get to go to work.”
The actor explained that, as a “workaholic” who loves their job, it can be hard to switch off. “We often forget that actually life, really, a lot of life is about the experience of life,” he said. “And we get lost in the day-to-day, the nine-to-five, etc, where you can have weeks go past and you realise you have no memory of those weeks. It’s scary when you see that because you realise your life may pass very quickly unless you can become more present”.
Acting is a vocation, and Newbon has spent decades following his calling, but you can still experience burnout, and there can be a sense of guilt from being burnt out on what you love doing most. “It’s hard not to love doing it, but you sometimes have to take a break from doing it because you love doing it,” he said. “It’s stupid.”
As for getting over burnout, Newbon suggests “looking after yourself by not necessarily having to run around and do stuff for other people”. The actor admits that, for some, this simply isn’t possible, saying “people are so busy these days… life has become very fast”. Nevertheless, when there’s a spare moment, they “try to focus on ‘what do I want to do right now’? I try to limit my energy as much as possible and I focus on the people that are closest to me”.
For more from out chat with the brilliant actor, read about his thoughts on the fan reception to the Baldur’s Gate TV show. Additionally, read his thoughts on Arc Raiders developer Embark replacing its AI voices with real, human performers.
