Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is getting—rightfully, in my opinion—lauded for its heartfelt performances and deeply emotional story, which paints a deep and effective canvas of grief for its players. As part of those celebrations, the actors behind its characters are also getting their kudos, too. A smidge too much kudos for Charlie Cox, apparently.
Cox voiced Gustave, the game’s protagonist, though you might also recognise him as Daredevil/Matt Murdock from the Daredevil TV show—and Marvel’s endless cameos. All this to say, he’s a big talent.
And yet, he’s been feeling the impostor syndrome in the wake of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. As shared by bursinxmurdock on X, while speaking at Washington State Summer Con, Cox confessed: “I don’t mean to minimize it any way … I’m not a gamer, I have no idea, I haven’t played it. My agent asked me if I wanted to go and do a voiceover. I was in the studio for four hours, maybe?
“People keep saying how amazing it is, congratulations, and I feel like a total fraud. But I’m so thrilled for the company and so thrilled that it did really well.”
Poor Cox is definitely being a bit hard on himself here. His vocal performance as Gustave is excellent, filled with deep emotion, naturalistic, and immediately compelling—there are other reasons he only spent four hours in the booth that I shan’t talk about, but all Cox’s quick stint means is that he’s a consummate professional. There ain’t nothing wrong with being efficient.
But he’s also not entirely ‘incorrect’. Cox isn’t a fraud, but it’s vital to remember that all characters in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are secretly two actors in a trenchcoat.
It was likely a move made to save money, allowing Sandfall’s humbler budget to snag some big-ticket actors without breaking the bank on long mocap sessions, but almost every character in Clair Obscur has both a voice actor and a mocap actor. Maelle’s a combination of Jennifer English’s voice and Charlotte Hoepffner’s physical acting, Kirsty Rider’s Lune had mocap performed by Estelle Darnault, and so on.
For Gustave, we have Maxence Cazorla to thank for all of the deep physical performances that made the character so great. Gustave’s charming voice and bumbling, good-natured warmth is all Cox—but his expressions and movements, those quiet moments of intensity, those lingering and grief-stricken stares? That’s all Cazorla—and Sandfall’s animation team, naturally. You can see an example of Cazorla and Darnault doing some excellent work here:
So, yes. Cox is definitely being a bit harsh on himself. But Cazorla certainly deserves credit for Gustave, too. And while this split between vocals and mocap was almost certainly a budgetary decision, it’s still kind of a technical marvel, because I wouldn’t have been able to tell. It took some downright supernaturally good direction, animation, and audio editing to get the naturalistic conversations Clair Obscur’s been praised for out of two performances stitched together. Laurels. Laurels for everyone.