Ubisoft Didn’t Hire A Latino Actor For Far Cry 6’s Anton Castillo Because It’s All About “The Performance”
Giancarlo Esposito’s character is bleak, menacing, and unique to the country of Yara.
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We recently caught up with Far Cry 6 narrative director Navid Khavari to talk about the creation of Anton Castillo, the flagship villain for the upcoming open-world shooter.
Portrayed by Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian fame, Castillo is a fascist dictator who rules over the fictional country of Yara. He’s a force to be reckoned with, and Esposito’s performance as the daunting villain has been very impressive from everything we’ve seen.
However, the actor isn’t of Latino origin, so I wanted to ask Khavari why such a casting decision was made instead of leaning into Yara’s Cuban inspiration. I was told it was all about the “performance [Esposito] brought to the table and his personal experiences” although care was taken to ensure it was done respectfully.
“I think authenticity and representation is extremely important, even beyond the cast, we made sure to have a vocal coach, experts on set, and throughout production we used consultants,” Khavari tells me. “So there’s something I really wanted to avoid, which was just having one consultant. We had multiple, so we’d have different perspectives to make sure we were honoring the culture, so I’m hoping the gamers feel that.”
The casting of Esposito is very much related to his talent and starpower, his presence alone likely to draw a number of new fans to the franchise. “When we finally met in New York, it turned into this epic meeting where he had done notes on the scripts and had his own thoughts and perspectives on how do we make Anton a believeble father – first and foremost,” Khavari explains. “I think this was something he really cheered on and got excited about. Yes, he has this complicated relationship with his son, so it was a really wonderful collaboration and journey together.”
Be sure to check out our full Far Cry 6 preview, alongside a deeper chat with the narrative director on the creation of Anton Castillo, the guerilla fantasy, and more. Far Cry 6 is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC on October 7.
Jade King is Lead Features Editor for TheGamer. Previously Gaming Editor over at Trusted Reviews, she can be found talking about games, anime and retweeting Catradora fanart @KonaYMA6.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/ubisoft-far-cry-6-anton-castillo-casting/