Resident Evil regular Nick Apostolides has revealed he listened to Metallica, Nirvana and Alice In Chains to get into character for Leon.
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No-nonsense badass Leon S. Kennedy was first introduced in 1998’s Resident Evil 2 and quickly became a fan-favourite character. Since the release of the Resident Evil 2 Remake in 2019, the character has been voiced by Nick Apostolides.
Responding to a fan on Cameo, Apostolides has spoken about the music that helps him get into the headspace of Leon. “I really take a lot of deep inspiration from music to get into the right mindset because music puts me in an area of my life [and means I can] draw from real emotion,” he explained, with each game showing Leon at a different time in his life.
“I never really thought about it too much for Resident Evil 2 but I was listening to a lot of Nirvana at the time. I don’t have one song in particular but that grunge rock energy was good for young Leon,” said Apostolides. “When he got a little bit more grizzled in Resident Evil 4, I was getting into Alice In Chains. I let songs like ‘Would?’ and ‘Them Bones’ be a huge inspiration. Alice In Chains is considered borderline grunge rock but more like acid rock. Slow, dredging, heavy riffs. Love that music. [Their later albums] ‘Rainer Fog’ and ‘The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here’ are really dark.
“In Resident Evil 9 I used older metal [such as] 1980’s Metallica,” he continued. “It’s super heavy, fast with lockstep rhythms. Their song ‘Orion’ is my favourite song of all time. I had that in my head. It’s just such a heavy riff, and there’s so much behind that song about why they wrote it, how they wrote it. I just love it.”
Nick Apostolides shared the music that helped shape Leon’s different eras, from Resident Evil 2 to Resident Evil Requiem.
In a Cameo video, the actor revealed that Nirvana inspired his performance as the young Leon in RE:2, Alice in Chains became the biggest influence for… pic.twitter.com/mF110KhRP1
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In November, the 30th anniversary Resident Evil concert tour will kick-off in Dusseldorf before playing shows in Paris, Prague, London and Vienna. North American dates are set to be announced.
‘Resident Evil: Symphony Of Legacy’ is a “musical journey through one of the most influential horror universes in pop culture history—bringing together, for the first time, the worlds of video games and cinema in a single live experience,” explains a press release. “Carefully selected visual elements accompany the performance, immersing the audience in the dark aesthetic of Resident Evil without detracting from the musical focus. The result is an immersive live experience that combines horror, nostalgia, and symphonic power, bridging gaming culture, cinematic art, and classical concert tradition.”
In other news, Call Of Duty fans can get their hands on Modern Warfare 4 early, with game publishers Activision announcing details of an open beta for next month.
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