Twitch has been pushing the boundaries of interactive streaming with their audience-driven sci-fi series Artificial. Season 3 of the live scripted series embraces the current pandemic by adapting to the situation and moving forward with Artificial: Remote Intelligence.
We at Comic Book Movie have been lucky enough to have the chance to speak with the cast and crew behind this choose-your-own-ending-type series. Over the past few weeks, we have shared our exclusive chats with Dante Basco (Hook, Avatar: The Last Airbender), Jennifer Field (9-1-1), Tohoru Masamune (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Inception), and many more.
Today, we are excited to share the second portion of our chat with voice and mo-cap actor Stephen A. Chang, following our The Last of Us Part II piece from yesterday. We learned a lot about the character of Sebastian that Stephen plays in Artificial: Remote Intelligence, in addition to how surprisingly un-tech savvy he is in his real life!
If you are interested in listening to the audio portion of our conversation, click play on the podcast link below. Skip to 01:32 for our Artificial chat!
Literary Joe: How did you initially become involved with Artificial?
Stephen A. Chang: I auditioned like everyone else. (Laughs) Bernie had a relationship with me prior to Artificial. Emma Approved was my first Bernie Su project and we did Vanity together. Then I was lucky enough to be cast again to work with him.
Literary Joe: Nice, can you tell me a little bit about your character in Artificial?
Stephen A. Chang: Yeah, his name is Sebastian. He is a multi-million dollar backer of this artificial intelligence project. (Laughs) Which always makes me laugh because I’m far from a multi-millionaire so I’m glad I can play it well.
(Laughs) Yeah, I think he’s sometimes he’s perceived as a good guy and sometimes he’s perceived as the villain. He’s definitely back and forth and people consider him to be a manipulator.
In my eyes he’s good-intentioned and I think he’s always tried to push for the evolution of artificial intelligence in humanity. I think that sums it up. He’s kind of mysterious that way.
Literary Joe: Do you think any of your character traits are assigned to you by the fans based on any previous roles that you’ve played?
Stephen A. Chang: I think this is definitely created by Bernie and his team. I can see how previous roles kind of influenced this character and I can definitely see some similarities.
In Emma Approved, I played a character named Frank Churchill who was very similar. He had a lot of bravado and he was the kind of guy that liked to stir the pot.
But it is definitely interesting with the audience, you know they hated Sebastian for a long time and then they started kind of coming around to him. They hate him, they love him. Which I like, I feel like he’s not just a clearly defined character, which is more fun to play.
Literary Joe: Nice! Now, I know you provided your voice to Last of Us II. Does that mean that you were familiar with Twitch as a platform before you got involved?
Stephen A. Chang: No, actually. My introduction was through Artificial to the Twitch platform. I’m like a ninety-year-old man trapped in a thirty-five year old body. (Laughs) I’m not great with technology or video games.
I still like Super Mario and Golden Eye. Those were my video games and I’m not much of a gamer so I’m a little outdated with it. Last of Us II was really fun to work on.
Literary Joe: Have you ever had an interactive role like this or anything similar with an audience chat aspect?
Stephen A. Chang: Nothing as live and to the moment. I feel like we kind of skimmed the surface with Emma Approved, which was definitely an audience-driven show, but this is like Emma Approved on steroids, I feel like.
(Laughs) It’s definitely taken it to a new level of in-the-moment, and, you know, a scene can go two different ways depending on a poll and how people vote, so it definitely keeps you on your toes.
Literary Joe: Nice, now did you join in Season 3, or were you involved with Artificial prior to that?
Stephen A. Chang: I was in Season 2 of Artificial, I was not in Season 1. Thank God I was brought back for Season 3.
Literary Joe: I know things are a little different as far as filming remotely goes, is this the first job that you’ve done remotely acting wise?
Stephen A. Chang: Definitely. It’s the first job and the industry feels like it’s been shut down for months now. I haven’t even gotten any auditions for things or anything, so it’s definitely a relief.
Literary Joe: What kind of challenges do you feel like you’re getting filming from home that you didn’t really have to deal with pre-COVID?
Stephen A. Chang: Well, I realized, like I told you, as a nine-year-old trapped in trapped in this body, that tech-savvy is not my strength. So, you have to do a little bit of everything.
You have to set the lighting, you’re your own crew, you gotta set the camera, you’re on set design, and you do all of this kind of on your own. I realized that I didn’t have a lot of the appropriate tools, so thank God for the Artificial team walking me through this. But it’s definitely been hard.
And I think that even acting during these streams, you know, it’s not like you can look at the other actor. It’s nice to act off of someone, but you’re just kind of looking at your camera on your computer, so you’re kind of isolated and there are some acting challenges that go along with quarantine.
Literary Joe: I know they added a lot of new people in this season, such as Dante Basco. Did you work with any of the cast or crew before working with them on Artificial?
Stephen A. Chang: Just the cast that I worked with from last year. I know some of them — Justin (Lee) and Devon (Werkheiser), I think they worked together a long time ago from what I’ve heard.
Literary Joe: Yeah, that’s what he told me earlier.
Stephen A. Chang: Yeah, no. I’m meeting everyone new just as you are meeting everyone new.
Literary Joe: Some of the other actors have told me that they’ll make a different screen name to interact in the chat. Is that something that you do?
Stephen A. Chang: I don’t. (Laughs) I don’t want to come across in this interview like “who is this old dude?” but I don’t have like social media and all that stuff. I got a Gmail account, so if anyone wants to Gmail me we can chat, but that’s about it for me, man. (Laughs)
Literary Joe: Nice. Now, there’s an unknown aspect to Artificial, where it’s difficult to prepare for what happens next, based on the audience having some control. Do you ever get your hopes up that the character or the plot is going to go one way, and then the audience kind of flips it on you?
Stephen A. Chang: (Laughs) For most of last season I was hoping I’d win some kind of vote, or something, but I was losing most of the votes. I was trying to get my mom to get on like “mom, come on, you gotta help me out man.”
Literary Joe: You gonna get your mom to make a Twitch account?
Stephen A. Chang: Yeah, exactly. Someone help me. I mean, actors, for the most part, we’re sensitive people. So I want them to vote for me and be in my favor, and when you lose it hurts, but you move on to the next vote.
*This interview has been edited for clarity.*
What do you guys think of this interview with Artificial: Remote Intelligence star Stephen A. Chang? Let us know your thoughts in the usual spot; meanwhile, be sure to check out the trailer’s for Chang’s most recent projects, Artificial and The Last of Us Part II.
After a vicious and violent event disrupts the relative peace that Ellie has found in Jackson, she sets out to bring justice to those responsible. As she hunts them down one by one, she is confronted with the devastating physical and emotional repercussions of her actions.
The groundbreaking Twitch series Artificial returns with Artificial: Remote Intelligence. This season takes a huge step forward with a bold new sci-fi vision and ground-breaking interactive methods, including an audience-controlled musical score and revolutionary new interactive Worldbuilding episodes. Viewers will be able to dictate aspects of the production including casting of new characters, story, and set design.
The Last of Us Part II is now available for the Playstation 4. Artificial airs live on Twitch every Thursday at 5:00 pm EST.
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