Richard Schiff is one of TV and the silver screens most beloved actors. From his roles in Se7en, to The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Deep Impact, and I Am Sam in the world of cinema, and iconic roles of Toby Ziegler in The West Wing, and regular roles in both Ballers and The Good Doctor, he’s never been far from the center stage. Video games however haven’t been a medium that Schiff has featured in… until God Of War Ragnarok came along. So how did it come to be that Schiff’s first appearance in the interactive medium was in one of the primary roles of one of the most acclaimed games of the year? Well it turns out that his son had quite a bit to do with it.
Speaking to Gameinformer, Santa Monica Studios’ God Of War Ragnarok Game Director, Eric Williams, was asked about Schiff, how did he come to feature in the game, how did he come to mind, and as it turns out, Schiff’s son was integral in him saying yes.
We didn’t think he would even take the call. He doesn’t care about video games. Eventually, we were like, screw it, let’s just find out. Have him tell us no. So Richard is in the car with his son, who’s a big God of War fan, and he asked his son, “Do you know what this God of War thing is?” And his son was like, “Just say yes. It doesn’t matter what it is, just say yes.” And then that night his son went home and wrote two pages for Richard. He broke down the 2018 game for him so he would understand what he was getting into when he would came to meet us the next day. We walked him around, we talked to him, and all that kind of stuff.
And he was like, “Yeah, let’s do it.” It was just this wild moment where we’re sitting there, literally walking and talking to him through the game, like he’s like Toby Ziegler, like trying to pitch him on his game. It was surreal, you know? And then first day on set, people were like, “Holy…
The crew didn’t know. They were like, “That guy’s going to play Odin!? You’re sh****** me!” And some people were like, “I don’t know about this,” And then he opened his mouth and everybody was like, “Dude, this is going to be amazing.”
Schiff’s performance as Odin, the Allfather is nothing short of astounding, highlighting just how fantastic of a get it was for Williams and his team.
God Of War Ragnarok is available now on PS4, and PS5.
