Maggie Robertson Talks Becoming Lady Dimitrescu and Invading The Winter’s Expansion DLC

Maggie Robertson Talks Becoming Lady Dimitrescu and Invading The Winter’s Expansion DLC

As Capcom continues to pull the veil on the future of Resident Evil and eyes on the highly-anticipated Resident Evil 4 Remake, many players have not forgotten about the dominant force that is Lady Dimitrescu, voiced by the super-talented Maggie Robertson, the powerful and malevolent force that she brought to Resident Evil Village. Lady D is once again stealing the stage and hearts of fans in The Winter’s Expansion DLC in which she joins The Mercenaries: Additional Orders mode out today!

We had the opportunity to speak with the voice behind Lady D and discussed many things including the initial shock of Lady D taking the internet by storm and pulling the layers back on everything that makes up Lady D. Robertson will also be taking control of Lady D once more. This time, she will do it as a gamer as she will be streaming the new DLC alongside Nicole Tompkins who voiced Daniela Dimitrescu. The duo will be breaking in the new DLC on the official Capcom Twitch channel. The stream will be held on Friday, October 28th at 6 PM PST in support of the Child’s Play Charity.

Check out the full Q&A below:

GN: It’s so exciting to be able to talk to you. You voice such a great character. I think it’s been a while since a character reveal has kind of set the internet on fire as much as Lady Dimetrescu.

MR: Absolutely not. No, the whole process was completely surreal, and so far, above and beyond anything that I ever could have expected. I mean, my journey was so crazy. I was new to Los Angeles, I had just graduated from my master’s program, and moved to LA, I didn’t have an agent.  I happened to find this audition for some random breakdown.

That was a fake breakdown, which is very common within video games, because they have all these NDAs. So, I had no idea what I was auditioning for. I just applied on a whim and then lo and behold, it’s Resident Evil. So that alone was enough of a shock as is. And my only intention going into the game was just to do the best work that I could possibly do as an actor and not make a complete fool of myself. So, anything that has happened beyond that is so far beyond anything that I could have expected.

GN: That’s crazy. I think you did a fantastic job because she is such a powerhouse. I love her.

MR: Thank you. It’s weirdly like the Hollywood dreams story where you show up to LA and book the role of a lifetime which feels very surreal that it happened to me, you always think, oh, that happens to other people. I have to work really hard for what I get. And yet it happened. It can happen. The next thing that you audition for could be the thing that changes your life, and launches a career you just never know. That’s kind of the beauty of Hollywood and also the thing that might suck you in for too long. A blessing and a curse.

GN: Yeah, that’s incredible. So, it’s no secret you know that things got kind of weird with the internet’s attention from the things being said online to fan art and memes. What’s the weirdest thing you came across or heard in relation to your character.

MR: I think it’s so surreal. Okay to put a positive spin on this you know, when I was first coming up as an actor, I literally created a bucket list and artistic bucket list with a friend of mine. And on that bucket list was stuff like I want to be, I want to do a role that takes me to Comic Cons, I want to do a role that people create fan art for or do cosplays of. And, ironically, throw a table was on that bucket list. And I got to do all of those within this one job.

So that’s been pretty surreal. People get tattoos, both of the character and now I think the weird thing is now, not just lady Dimetrescu, but me, Maggie Robertson, the person has a following. And people will get things that I doodle on their prints, or say, tattooed onto their bodies permanently. So, I think the weirdest shift has not just been seeing how the character has been, I guess adopted by the public, but also how me the person has been thrust into the spotlight and, you know, launched a fandom. That’s been weird. But good. I mean, the fans are amazing, but it’s very strange. It’s very strange to be in that spotlight and to now be a figurehead and to feel the eyes on you in a way that you didn’t have before in this project, this role really launched me into the spotlight, whereas before I was completely anonymous. So, adjusting to the spotlight has been a process.

GN: Well, speaking of you, Maggie as the person you know, I know that you come from like a theatrical background. You know, your character, she kind of had almost like a Shakespearean feel to her. Did your background help you at all with bringing that character to life?

MR: Totally. I have talked about this before, I do think she’s so Shakespearean. And that’s part of what really drew me to her. And why I initially even applied to audition, there was something in the description of the character that felt very Shakespearean to me, and I was like, oh, I can do that.

I can smash that for sure. So certainly, my background and all of the skills that I learned in my master’s program, I brought with me into the volume, all of the bodywork, all of the physicality, especially the way that she uses language is very Shakespearean, because it’s a heightened use of language. She’s using archaic phrases. She’s really weaponizing language as another tool in her arsenal of how she can inflict terror and damage to the players. So, I have a real love of language and I love to play with words and with sounds and figure out how I can use the script in the language to its best advantage.

GN: Speaking of, her as a threat, you know, her size and strength were what a lot of players and fans noticed first and foremost, especially maneuvering around like the Resident Evil village. I also kind of enjoyed that they counteracted, you know, her size and her strength by also making her a mom. She had those very motherly instincts of protecting her children throughout the game. Did you tap into that in any way to try and humanize her in that role?

MR: I love that they did that as well. I think that’s why ultimately, Lady D was successful, even just beyond us getting the first glimpse of her before the game even came out. What I really love and admire about Capcom’s design for this character is that she is so visually dynamic, even before she opens her mouth, you have such a clear sense of who she is as a character. I think that’s part of why she was able to take off even before the game was released, there are a variety of different factors as well. But she is physically very interesting to look at. And you get a sense of a real character, a real dynamic character. But all of that could have fallen flat, if her portrayal within the game was not also equally dynamic and multifaceted.

Exactly what you’re saying. It’s so interesting when we humanize these characters that are quote unquote, villains or monsters, I think there’s a lot to resonate with this kind of antihero that is an outcast from society that doesn’t fit in to the normal bounds of, of society and kind of lives outside of it and are they monsters because of who they are rather than what they have done. For me playing with villains are very interesting because I want to figure out the why villains are not born, they are made.

So, what made her into the person that she is today. I love that she’s a mom, I love that she has something to fight for you can see where her values are. She’s not just, you know, she has a reason for everything that she does. I think that that’s really fascinating and heartbreaking to watch someone grieve to watch someone lose their children to lose their family. I think it’s even more heartbreaking because they are her chosen family. She wanted them she had to actively create them and seek them out to seek out a chosen family and so to lose that is heart wrenching. I think that audiences clearly resonate with that with that human element.

GN: I agree. I really love that aspect of her character. Just kind of on the funny side. You know, you have more insight into the mind of Lady D than anyone. Do you have any idea? You know, kind of why she didn’t put any money into renovating that castle to get doors she didn’t have to keep ducking under?

MR: LOL. Well, this was something that I brought up even while we were shooting. I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe? Well, she’s still in a state of evolution. This isn’t her final form. So, I think it would be pointless to kind of renovate the castle and then have to renovate it again as she grows another 10 sizes. So maybe she’s just waiting for the final combination before she does the full reno.

GN:  You know, having stepped into one of the biggest video game franchises are there any other franchise and video games are other mediums that you would just love to be a part of like a dream role.

MR: Oh my gosh, where to begin? I’m a huge nerd. I love sci-fi.  I love fantasy. There’s so much cool stuff happening now with Game of Thrones and now House of the Dragon, Rings of Power, and all of the Star Wars franchises especially Mandalorian was so cool because they’re also using game technology. They’re operating, they’re shooting in volume. So that’s really exciting. And to be able to see that innovation. I watched all the behind-the-scenes interviews, it was so fascinating to see how they created that show. And for the actors.

It’s such a unique experience. Because so often, and especially when you’re doing performance capture for games, you have nothing to help you tell the story, you have only your imagination to create a world that is believable, and to endow these crazy circumstances as real for you and therefore for the audience. But with Mandalorian, everything was in front of them. They didn’t have to imagine anything.  I imagine I bet that was such a surreal experience to just be able to immerse themselves and feel like they really stepped into the world of Star Wars. That would have been so so cool, I’m sure.

GN: Just one final question, do you have a specific line from Lady D that you love the most?

MR: I feel like this answer changes every day. And also, I do live autograph signings now and sometimes fans will throw out a quote that I’m like, I don’t even remember that. But that’s amazing. Ooh, what’s a recent one “succumb to your despair.” That’s a fun one. Oh, no, I think my favorite is I love all of her slightly goofy lines, like calling someone a human pest. Who does that? Who thinks of that as an insult? It’s so goofy to me and delightful. I now love.

I also love the fact that when people ask me to say a line as Lady D more often than not, it’s an insult and I just get to go around insulting people to their face as this character. That’s really amusing to me. But yeah, all of the transformation lines are so juicy in terms of their language. There was so much fun stuff to play with especially because at that point, she is a loose cannon there you have no idea what she’s capable of. She has let go of all of her previous restrictions and is just a wildfire of emotion and chaos. So, it was really kind of free rein with those lines to do whatever I wanted to take to take them to whatever extreme I wanted to take them to. So that was really fun just to have full licence to play and explore and go crazy.

GN: Before we let you go, is there anything coming up that you want to share with your fans?

MR: Ooh, yes, actually. So I’m very excited Nicole Tompkins and I will be partnering with Capcom to host a live stream playthrough of the DLC this Friday the 28th at 6 pm. Pacific time. So that will be so exciting.  I may or may not actually play as Lady D myself, which will be really fun and surreal. Also, I just want to give a shout-out to the dev team on the DLC because I’ve loved learning about all of the little details that they’ve put in for Lady D and Mercenary Mode. It’s clear that they have such a love and an appreciation for this character.

They’re having a lot of fun with her. I think all the details that they’ve put in, really tap into and embrace her drama, and her dramatic flair and are so little nuggets of who she is as a character, the fact that she puts on her lipstick to increase her thrill meter so she can inflict more damage. Of course, the lipstick would thrill her, and then she’d be even more of a badass. Of course, she would drink a glass of Sanguine Virginia’s to increase her health. All of these things I think will just make it. They’re having so much fun with it. So I think that means that for audiences, they’ll be able to have a lot of fun with it, too. Although I have a gripe with them, because they did not bring me back into mo-cap more vanity throws. And I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive them for that.

Be sure to check out the stream as these two powerhouses break in the new DLC for a great cause. Visit the official Capcom Twitch channel when they go live!