Q&A: Pittsfield Native Portrays 'Call of Duty' Sergeant
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Pittsfield native James C. Burns has been making a name for himself in acting and directing but is perhaps best known for his portrayal of 'Black Ops' Sgt. Frank Woods. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Actor and Pittsfield native James C. Burns has been appeared in major motion pictures such as "Transformers," but he is most well known for playing Sgt. Frank Woods in the popular "Call of Duty: Black Ops" video game series.
Burns recently returned from his second tour with the Call of Duty Black Ops II USO group to Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, visiting military bases where the games are immensely popular. Burns said he was honored to see how happy the series has made men and women protecting the U.S. Burns also offers his fans a closer look at his work, including how the motion-capture technology allows him to portray the computer-generated character, through his YouTube channel and on his Twitter feed.
In addition, he has recently come out with a graphic novel based on Sgt. Frank Woods called "Redacted" that can be purchased on www.sgtfrankwoods.com. As a proud supporter of the U.S. military, a percentage of all profits from his website go to the Wounded Warriors program.
Outside of the gaming world, Burns is a hard-working actor with five movies coming out this year. Going back to his Berkshire County roots, Burns will hopefully being directing a movie in Hinsdale this coming November and will also be directing a Black Ops-based zombie film called "Nam-Zombies." Burns will also be making appearances at the Hartford, Conn., genre convention Connecticon to promote the Black Ops games as well as his graphic novel.
We caught up with the St. Joe graduate by phone recently while he was stuck in traffic in Los Angeles, where he currently resides.
Q: How did you get the part as Sgt. Frank Woods?
A: So basically back in 2009, they were trying to develop this new technology for performance capture. The characters are based on like eight or nine different guys, like maybe a dozen stunt guys, voice actors, face actors, and they would kind of clap them all together and that's what you get. That's why the performances were not as indelible so they wanted to be able to do more like a movie role. So they were looking for a guy who had weapons training, had some stunt training, and was an experienced actor and a guy remembered me from a project we did together. They called me in, we talked about it, started working on it and the next thing you know I'm Sgt. Frank Woods.
Q: You said you had weapons training. Could you go into that?
A: Well it's one of the perks of being an actor. It's like when I do a role, authenticity is important. I got trained with a Navy SEALs team for 'Transformers.' I trained with Marine snipers for a thing called 'Dry.' Stunt training, you know as an actor I'm an athlete so I can do it. I know how to handle myself. When it comes to doing a stunt most stunt guys aren't really actors; they're stunt guys so they miss a few basic parts of the scene. They just do the stunt as opposed to incorporating it into the performance so I really try to enhance my performance by doing my own stunts whenever possible.
Q: So you recently released a comic book based on your character in 'Black Ops.' How did you further develop the character you portrayed in 'Call of Duty' for the project?
A: Well basically when 'Black Ops' I came out, I had an idea to engage the fan base through a Twitter feed. It's called Sgt. Frank Woods Mission Blog and what I was doing was I was acting as if Woods was in Cambodia in 1968 and had an iPhone and was tweeting about his missions. That started developing a life of its own and before you know it there was lots of wonderful narrative and at that point I yanked it down, looked over it. I collaborated with Todd Ireland. We banged out the first issue. Now we got 22 more to go. It's really based on all the research I did with the Woods role and 'Black Ops I.' I interviewed people, I spent hours going over information, trying to understand the whole Vietnam conflict better.
Q: So you just got back from your second Black Ops tour. What was it like spending time on military bases with real U.S. soldiers as someone who portrays a soldier in a video game?
A: It's an odd situation because here I am, I'm a guy playing them and they spent time playing as me. It's a very odd relationship, but it's wonderful. Once you meet soldiers and spend time with military personnel, you learn to love military personnel. They're extraordinary individuals. I have no exception for this. I have not met anybody I have not been thoroughly impressed with. So what happens is when we get there they have a great appreciation that created Woods to be, you know not an a**hole. Woods is the kind of guy you want to be with and how they see themselves: strong, smart, loyal, and determined to get the job finished; a real get-things-done kind of guy. That's how they are in the military. They're very confident and very goal oriented. That's what we wanted with Woods. Woods is also a bit of a rebel and they want to be that way. A lot of guys in the military, 85 percent of them, never see combat. It's a good relationship. It's humbling to think that just by being there and paying attention will help make someone's day better and what a great opportunity it is for me.
Q: Do people ever recognize your voice from 'Black Ops?'
A: Yeah, they recognize the voice and face a lot. Really it's funny. I'll be in a place, like an elevator, with a bunch of kids and I start talking to somebody and they're looking at me like they know me or recognize the voice and I'll try to go ' 'Nam baby!' and then they'll freak out. 'Oh my god, it's Woods! It's Woods!' I mean it happens a lot.
Q: So you'll be doing work locally near the Berkshires, right?
A: Yeah, we're going to shoot in the area of Hinsdale, I did some location scouting. (Burns has family in Becket.) It's a funny story I was up there doing a location scout this winter and I got stuck so I had to enlist the help of a couple of snowmobilers to get me out of there and down the street this guy with a bulldozer to pull me out, so yeah that was my adventure this winter when I was up there. If things go right this summer I should be there in September prepping and can shoot for October or November.
Q: What is that film particularly about?
A: I don't want to give a lot away. It's a great idea. It's going to be a moderate budget, very much done like J.J. Abrams or M. Night Shyamalan — that kind of work. It's really about the relationships between the characters with a science fiction event as the background. But the big deal is a movie where we're aiming toward a 'Black Ops' based book. It's actually based on 'Redacted.' It's a zombie film with Woods, Mason and Menendez all on board. It's a film based on 'Black Ops' characters that people all know and that should hopefully be running in January or February in Puerto Rico of next year. I'll be directing that one also. I like directing.
Q: Is there anything else you'd like to say?
A: I'd really want to say that if you have the opportunity to support the USO to and help them as much as you can and in any way you can because they do great work. I can't express enough how good they are at what they do and what a great result they have. I mean we have a massive footprint in the Middle East and in Europe and these guys are 19-20 years old.
Tags: actors, gaming, movie, video games,
