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Splinter Cell: Deathwatch Director on Playing Games, Casting, More

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch director Guillaume Dousse spoke to us about playing the Ubisoft games, Liev Schreiber, casting, and more.

Anytime a popular IP gets adapted to another medium, you always hope the gatekeeper responsible is at the very least a fan him/herself. Luckily, Guillaume Dousse fits the bill, directing the Netflix animated series Splinter Cell: Deathwatch. Based on the Ubisoft video game franchise endorsed by Tom Clancy, the series from John Wick scribe Derek Kolstad follows an older Sam Fisher (voice of Liev Schreiber), who uses his experience to help a young agent (voice of Kirby) thwart a global disaster. Dousse spoke to Bleeding Cool about his personal experience playing the games, starting with the 2002 original Splinter Cell, how Schreiber and Kirby fit into their roles as Sam and Zinnia, and more.

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch Director Guillame Dousse on Playing the Games, Leiv Schriber, Kirby, Influences, Future

BC: What's been your personal experience with the franchise? Did you play the original Splinter Cell games? Did they serve as a reference point for the series' look?

Yeah, I've been playing the games since I was young. I was 11 or 12 years old when the first game came out. I played a lot of those games with my friends, because I didn't have them at home, but it was a collective experience with my friends. I played the first three games, so I had to catch up on the last three. What was interesting to revisit Splinter Cell after so long was that the game was definitely a memory of me as a preteen, discovering this sort of thriller and atmosphere. What was exciting to me was to see how we can transcribe that atmosphere into a cinematic format.

Did you work separately with the ADR to work with the local talent to bring the characters to life on screen, or something you handle it personally? How'd that work out?

Yeah, I took part in casting the different actors that we worked with, from working with Liev to you know, all the other fantastic actors we got on the show. After that, I got to do all the voice recordings with them. I was working with two voice directors who helped navigate that as well.

What did you like about what Leiv, Kirby, and some of the other vocal talents brought?

The broader gravitas I was looking for in the show, the idea for the series was to be very grounded and realistic. I felt the version of Derek [Kolstad's] of Sam Fisher, the version he wrote was older. There was a gravitas to him in terms of the character, and I felt that Liev was perfect. We heard him in different animation projects from [Spider-Man: Into the] Spider-Verse (2018) to Isle of Dogs (2018), and I thought he was a perfect cast. Kirby, I've seen her in different series before, and I thought she was a great addition to it as well. In general, I've been very pleased with the whole casting process.

What are your biggest influences creatively?

I'm a big buff of thrillers in general, crime thrillers. I'm also a big fan of South Korean and North American films. Regarding the series, it has been a lot of influence from Michael Mann to Eastern Promises (2007) or History of Violence (2005) from David Cronenberg. There's been a lot of inspiration coming from live action cinema in general, from crime to more espionage, very centered around the nineties.

What's next for you?

Well, I have started my new company called Æsten, which is a creative studio and production company to adapt other IPs or to create originals as well. This is what I'm going to focus on, and as a director, I'm starting the process of writing my first live-action feature. After that, I'm developing a new feature in animation as well.

Renewed for a second season, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, which also features the voices of Janet Varney, Helen Hong, Joel Oulette, Kari Wahlgren, Aleks Le, Kiff VandHeuvel, Bella Dayne, Navid Negahban, and JB Blanc, is available on Netflix.

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