Mafia: Definitive Edition has a brand new actor voicing Tommy Angelo, here’s why

You don’t just take a beloved classic, slap its hood and tell people about how this remake bad boy can fit so many more particles inside of it than it did back in the day. Mafia Remake may look and play like an all-new riff on the original game when you peer under the hood, but it’s also going to sound like a completely new game as well. That’s because developer Hangar 13 ditched all of the original audio, and recorded brand new lines and motion capture for this remake. Why? Because ACTING!

In a new blog post, Hangar 13 president Haden Blackman explained how the studio wanted to make full use of new technology when they brought the source material into the modern day era, which also resulted in the part of Tommy Angelo being played by Italian-Australian actor Andrew Bongiorno. “Since our cinematics rely heavily on motion capture data, it was essential that we have both voice and physical performances,” Blackman explained.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H-ooDBx8FM&feature=emb_title

We looked for actors who not only sounded the part, but also looked the part and could perform on both the motion capture stage and in the VO booth.

As for the idea of rehiring the original actors to return to the roles that they had made famous? That just wasn’t viable for the studio. “No one’s voice stays the same, especially after such a long period of time,” producer Nicole Sandoval added.

Ultimately, Haden and Alex [Cox, associate game director] and I really wanted to make this an ensemble. Some might ask ‘Well, why not just keep Tommy?’ Sure, but then you don’t really have a ground-up ensemble that you’ve built to go with the expanded version of the story. And it’s really important for us at Hangar 13 to make sure that, because we do invest so much in the story, we’re building a cast around the story that we feel will be the best at bringing these characters to life, working together and becoming like a family.

The all important part of Tommy Angelo, the game’s protagonist, went to Bongiorno as he was “believable as both a mobster and a family man,” while also retaining the qualities of someone who was aspirational and human. Bongiorno isn’t the only actor who’ll be flexing his acting within Mafia, as Hangar 13 announced that more cast reveals would be announced soon ahead of the remake’s August 28 release on PS4, Xbox One and PC.

Last Updated: July 2, 2020