Voice acting in video games might not have started for a while due to technical limitations, but now, you have to be smart about whether you can have it in your game or not, and who will play your characters. Bad voice acting can break a game, and it’s not as simple as just “casting an A-list actor” to do a certain role, as that’s backfired in the past. For something like Final Fantasy VII with its “Remake Saga,” they had to recast every role in the game so that fans had a truly great cast of actors to listen to. For Brianna White, who voices Aerith, that led to some anxieties.
Now, it’s natural to be nervous when playing a version of a beloved character, but Brianna truly felt that she wasn’t right for the role despite being cast in said role. It got so bad that she admitted to asking, “Is this normal, is that normal, am I cut out for this?”
Things eventually calmed down for her when co-star John Eric Bentley, who plays Barrett in the remake titles, noted the following to her:
“They cast you for a reason, and you are allowed to be in that booth and to bring makes you special to the acting. That just opened up a whole new world for me.”
That reveal came from a special Square Enix video where the two sat down and chatted about voice acting, the RPG franchise, and other elements of acting life. You can watch it in full below:
The irony of all of this, of course, is that not only did fans truly love Brianna White’s voice for Aerith, but she recently got a Golden Joystick Award for “Best Supporting Actor” in a video game and was nominated for other awards for the same role. She was even able to take things to a new level via a special song that she herself sang for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth that was specifically made for the remake version to tell a “different side” of Aerith’s story.
Speaking of which, Aerith’s fate is up in the air right now due to the ending of the last game. Because of that, it’s unknown how much we’ll hear from Brianna White in the third and final remake entry. However, it’s fair to say that she’ll appear in some capacity, as fans will want to hear from her in any form before saying goodbye.
