"You're playing a game within a movie" - We speak with the main cast of Mafia: The Old Country

With Mafia: The Old Country releasing in just a few days, Gamereactor got the chance to speak with the actors behind the game's main characters: Riccardo Frascari, who the player gets to embody as the protagonist Enzo Favara, and Johnny Santiago, who plays the Don himself, Bernardo Torrisi.

Frascari and Santiago discussed the unique challenges of acting on a soundstage, the representation of authentic Sicilian culture, the influence of classic gangster movies, as well as plenty of other things, which you can read all about below.

How do you bring characters to live that precede the age of television and films? Does this pose a challenge of terms of your inspiration?

Frascari: I think that for us as actors, we come across material that has been handed to us, which is already pretty historically accurate. Then you try to build your character and the story from what you can find online. A big part of, for example, Enzo's past - of him growing up - was that he was a Carusu, which were these boys that worked in the mines. That's actually something that happened, and there are some pictures of these kids. So from there, you can start to build something.

And in general, there's a lot of material when it comes to the origins of the Mafia back in Sicily at the beginning of the 20th century—how they used to operate, what kind of car they used to drive, what kind of guns they used, and their business techniques and methods. So there's a lot of things that are covered historically, but then so many others are not. And that's where your imagination comes in, as well as the creativeness of the team. It becomes a teamwork process in terms of building something from scratch. But I believe it's extremely accurate, what we did with the game, the story and everything else.

Even I, as an Italian, didn't know certain things about Sicily and the Sicilian language.

What are some of the unique challenges you face when filming for video games compared to a normal film production?

Santiago: For quite a few of us, this was our first video game, and so it was really interesting. In many ways it's like doing theatre and shooting a movie at the same time. Once you're on the sound stage, you're just on. There's no hiding—there are cameras very close to your face, there are cameras all around you, and every single movement you're making is being picked up at all times.

That was really interesting and, in a way - at least for me - made me feel that I had to focus a bit more, which is fun. We're on a set, we're in green suits, headgear, and we have all these markers on ourselves. And there's no walls; there might be a stanchion, and you're told, "That's a wall, and that's a field." So you really have to lean into your imagination. It's something that you adapt to very quickly. In a way, it was kind of freeing.

Did you watch other gangster films to prepare for the role?

Frascari: I think we all had our own individually sourced inspirations to draw things for our characters. Obviously, for us as actors, we go back to what has been done before and try to borrow from the other great artists that have performed in similar kinds of movies and TV shows in the past—like The Sopranos, The Godfather, and Goodfellas. I would say that The Godfather: Part II is probably the biggest inspiration for all of us in terms of the settings, the environment, and the whole idea of the game.

Were you concerned about the game reinforcing Italian or Italian-American stereotypes, as some gangster movies have been accused of?

Frascari: When we first started working on the game, it's not that I was concerned, but I was curious as to whether the depiction of Italian culture was going to be accurate or not; if it was going to be stereotypical. And I have to say that I was very surprised by the authenticity of everything. The more we read about the story of the game itself and then compared it to what was actually happening in Sicily during that time, it became clear that it was accurate. It was how the Cosa Nostra, the Mafia, was created back in those days, and many of the characters - as well as the situations - in the game could have been real. Even I, as an Italian, didn't know certain things about Sicily and the Sicilian language, so it was a great experience to learn more.

When you're working with really good material and really good actors, then it's just - it's just magic.

Gangster movies often have scenes with the characters sitting in front of a table, in a dimly lit room, discussing "the business." How do you, as actors, add tension to such scenes, were little is going on in terms of action?

Santiago: That's just acting, you know. I mean, I'm terrible at these interviews—Riccardo, go ahead!

Frascari: Well, I guess sometimes that's the magic of cinema and theatre—or video games, in this case. Your acting is often based on something else than what the audience is seeing. The audience might be seeing a dead body, low-lit and from an angle, but your character doesn't. The gamer might be experiencing a scene that's set in a very tight space - but we don't, because on the sound stage, we have a lot of space to move around. And within that space, we create limits for ourselves. Like, okay, these are the room dimensions, and this is how far I can walk to this side and to that side. You create your own set of boundaries and limits. But then, as Johnny said, it's just acting. At the end of the day, it's using your imagination...

Santiago: ...Your relationships. Your motivation. What do I want from the scene? It really comes down to that. Like Riccardo said, we're on this huge sound stage - very rudimentary wooden furniture, it's really not comfortable or plush - with bright lights, people wearing yoga outfits and so on. The studio, all the engineers, they create another world that the player gets to experience. But for us, it's about the imagination. Okay, we're in the Don's office. We maybe get to see basic images of what that would look like. Here's a table, here's a wall. The Don is talking to Enzo. What does he want? What am I doing? What's our relationship? You know, all of those things you're going through. Because at the end of a day, it's a movie. You're playing a game within a movie.

Frascari: No, and I have to say that for us, I think we all had such an amazing time performing these characters and these scenes because the writing was so good. When you're working with really good material and really good actors, then it's just - it's just magic. And I think we saw it a few days ago when the official social media accounts of Mafia released a quick comparison between what we shot and how it looked with motion capture. It's incredible. It goes from being something that may look silly - because it's just a bunch of guys, you know, standing around a wooden table in Velcro suits with dots - but then you see the final product with music, lighting, colour correction, the animations; and it looks incredible. It looks like a real movie, like an Oscar-winning movie!

How much of this "movie within a game" did you shoot on the soundstage with other actors? Was it all of it?

Santiago: We weren't always all shooting together, but everything we shot was on the sound stage. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go to the locations in Sicily, but we were in a beautiful location anyway. We also did some ADR stuff [Automated Dialogue Replacement], things you would have to do with a normal movie, and some after-voice work and stuff like that. But yeah, everything was shot on a sound stage.

Frascari: The only thing that we didn't shoot ourselves were the stunt actions. Those were shot in the Czech Republic.

Finally, what did you enjoy the most about performing in Mafia: The Old Country?

Frascari: The whacking.

The what?

Frascari: The whacking, the killing [Laughs] It's said as a joke, but it's also kind of true. I guess you don't always get to play these kinds of characters as an actor -where you have these very specific tasks - and when you get to do it, it's extremely fun.

But what I really enjoyed the most is - it sounds corny and cheesy - but it was just spending time on the sound stage with everyone else, with all my friends: Johnny, Alberto [Frezza], Christian [Antidormi], and Carina [Conti]. We all had an amazing time, and we laughed and cried at the end. We created a beautiful family, which worked perfectly because we were also supposed to be a kind family on screen as well. That was the best.

Santiago: I agree. The most fun was getting to know everybody—the guys and the whole team at 2K and Hangar 13. We made so many great memories shooting. Sometimes too much laughter on the sound stage. That happens. But otherwise, for me the most fun part was getting to play the Don. Which is kind of awesome. There's almost no wrong decisions. Even if there is, you're like, "You know, I'll get someone else to fix it." I'm never responsible. It's fun being the boss!

We would like to thank Frascari and Santiago for their time. Mafia: The Old Country releases on August 8 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.