To create a deep, story-driven game with a massively beautiful open world likeRed Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar took at least eight years to develop it. The script of the main story and important side quests consists of over two thousand pages. Andthat excludes Arthur Morgan’sintended love interest, other deleted five hours worth of gameplay, and eighty additional pages for pedestrians' conversations.
Related:10 Open-World Games With The Best Side Quests, Ranked
With that being said, some behind-the-scene stories are still unknown to even the game’s hardcore fans. These are the topten wild behind-the-scenes facts aboutRed Dead Redemption 2.
During the firstRedemptionsequel development, Rockstar never planned to see such a warm welcome of the game from the fans and critics. That pretty much explains why Arthur Morgan was never mentioned in the first game, considering that a sequel was never planned at all.
Ultimately,Red Dead Redemptionsold over five million copies in the first three-week span back in 2010, becoming one of the most expensive and bestselling video games of the year. Its sequel, released in 2018, scored a whopping US$725 million gross in only three days!
9The Actor Who Played Uncle Died During The Production
Allthese ‘Uncle has lumbago’ memesare pretty sad to think because during the game’s production, John O’Creagh, the motion-capture and likeness actor of Uncle, passed away from a blood clot complication. Rockstar had to remove mostly all his voice files, though they can still be obtained in the game’s files. The only voice lines of O’Creagh’s that made it to the final product was his singing when Uncle, John, and Charles celebrated after they finished building Beecher’s Hope Ranch.
During his life, O’Creagh had a pretty solid acting portfolio.Orange Is the New Black,The Knick,Master of None, andFrank and Erniewere among his best works.
8Rockstar Replaced O’Creagh With Actor James McBride
The show must go on, and after O’Creagh’s passing, Rockstar replaced most of O’Creagh’s voice files with James McBride’s.Red Dead Redemption 2marked McBride’s debut in video games, and before that, he has a small cameo appearance onArrest & Trial,Blindspot, andThe Good Fight.
Related:Red Dead Redemption: 10 Facts You Didn’t Know About Colm O’Driscoll
In fact, McBride was only a year younger than O’Creagh. During the production, O’Creagh passed away at the age of 67 while McBride, his replacement, was 66.
7They Paid Tribute To Late Actor By Naming An In-Game Location After Him
Aside from keeping his singing voice in the final cut, Rockstar paid tribute to the late actor by naming one of the beautiful landmarks in the game, O’Creagh Run, in Grizzlies East, Ambarino, after him.
In addition to that, a hidden treasure can be found in this area, but it’s exclusive forRed Dead Onlineonly. Either way, it’s still a nice gesture from the company and a resourceful treasure forRed Dead Onlineplayers.
In aninterview, Roger Clark,the actor of Arthur Morgan, revealed that he didn’t even think of becoming the main protagonist while auditioning forRedemption 2. He didn’t know that he was auditioning until he was asked to put on actual cowboy boots before entering the room.
“I didn’t know a lot about it, to be honest,” he said. “(But) it was good. It’s hard to tell how auditions go. I can tell when they go horribly wrong, but that’s about it.”
5Clark Executed The Motion-Capture Process For Mary Linton Crying Over Arthur’s Grave
If you play all the side quests, you’ll come across a woman named Mary Linton, who was Arthur’s love interest before falling in withthe Van der Linde gang. During the scene when Mary visits Arthur’s grave and quietly weeps over him, Julie Jesneck, Mary’s motion-capture actress, wasn’t present on the set, so Clark had to replace her.
In fact, it wasn’t the first time Clark played another character that isn’t Arthur Morgan. He once played as a big, brown bear for random NPC encounters when a guy gets caught in a bear trap.
4Rockstar Team Worked ‘100-Hour Weeks’ During Production
To breathe life into the 22 members of the Van der Linde gang duringthe Old West’s decline, several Rockstar employees have reportedly worked over 100-hour weeks “several times” throughout the year, as Rockstar’s Dan Houser toldVulture. This ‘crunch culture’ threw Rockstar under the bus, and it wasn’t the first time that the company received such criticism.
Related:Red Dead Redemption 2: 10 Side Quests Players Completely Overlook
To clarify the issue, Houser said on another occasion that the 100-hour weeks only occurred for three weeks, not the whole year, in a statement toThe Verge.
3Over More Than 2,000 People Worked On The Game Since 2010
To accommodateRed Dead Redemption 2’s development, Rockstar decided to merge all its studios into one massive team, consisting of over 2,000 people, from motion-capture actors to game designers, since 2010. The size of the main script plus the side quests and NPC interactions “would be eight feet high,“according to Houser.
2Upon The Game’s Release, Real-Life Pinkerton Detective Agency Sued Rockstar
Yes,the Pinkerton National Detective Agencyis a real-life security agency, founded during the decline of the American Old West era by Allan Pinkerton in 1850, 49 years beforeRed Dead Redemption 2’s time setting.
Upon its release, the agency’s parent company, Securitas AB, sued Rockstar for its cynical, villainous portrayal of the Pinkertons in the game. Rockstar denied the accusation, claiming that their use of ‘Pinkerton’ name is fair use. In April 2019, Pinkerton dismissed the lawsuit and settled it out of court with Rockstar and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive Software.
Speaking toGQ, Benjamin Byron Davis, the actor behind Dutch Van der Linde, revealed that he played the originalRed Deadgame: the 2004Revolverand the 2010Redemption, and watch cowboy movies. In fact, Davis, Steve Palmer (Bill), and Rob Wiethoff (John) would visit numerous Old West performance gigs together.
“We would go to one another’s rooms and run lines with one another to help with the large amount of material that we had to go through,” he said.
