The Blackwell Academy Reunion is a virtual reunion of the original Life is Strange cast that took place via Zoom and was released on Youtube on May 18, 2021. The panel features key cast members Hannah Telle, Ashly Burch, Dayeanne Hutton, Nik Shriner and Derek Phillips as well as Voice-Over Director Philip Bache. The video was created in partnership with CheckPoint, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of mental health, help those in need and reduce stigma surrounding these topics, and is hosted by Funhaus' Elyse Willems.
Description[]
"Plug in your earphones and walk down the hallways of Blackwell Academy once more, as five of the original cast from the game that started it all, come together. This exclusive Zoom get-together features almost one hour of never-before-heard stories, scene performances and reminiscing on their experiences."
Video[]
Transcript[]
Elyse Willems: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Life is Strange: Blackwell Academy Reunion. My name is Elyse and today I will be reuniting the class and catching them up on everything Life is Strange. I am a huge fan. 2015, for me, was the year of Life is Strange. I waited for every new episode, did a spoilercast breaking them down... I love it. I am so into the characters and the story and the world, finding parallels in my own friendships, minus the time-traveling part!
Before the get into it, I want to remidn you that we are raising money for the charity CheckPoint. If you've never heard of them, CheckPoint is a charity that provides mental health resources for gamers and the gaming community. Their mission is to raise awareness for mental health issues, reduce the stigma and improve well-being in the community. CheckPoint is run by both mental health and games industry professionals to ensure the information they provide accurate, relevant and implementable. CheckPoint has provided free resources on mental health for anyone looking to investigate it, and you can check that out at the link below. And you can also donate to their cause, and you can do so by visiting the link below in the description. It's tiltify.com/checkpoint.
Now's the time where I warn you that there will be potential spoilers during the reunion. So, if you're new to Life is Strange, please beware - just go play it now! Before we even get to it, then come back and watch the cast reunite.
Alright, let's introduce the cast. First up, is Hannah Telle who plays Max. Hannah, could you join me on the call?
Hannah Telle: Hi Elyse! So great to meet you.
Eylse Willems: It's so great to meet you, too. Thank you for coming here to help me reunite the Blackwell Academy class of 2013.
Hannah Telle: Oh, thank you for having me! It's my pleasure.
Elyse Willems: I am a huge fan of Max. I think she is the consummate, artsy soul. Do you kind of identity with that?
Hannah Telle: Absolutely. I love how Max is really influenced by music. Absolutely. I love how Max is really influenced by music. Whether she's just listening in her headphones as she's walking around, giving her world a soundtrack. Or if she's playing her guitar, in a moment of calm, I really relate to that.
Elyse Willems: You have a beautiful friendship with Chloe in Life is Strange. I can't imagine [any other] two characters that exemplify that kind of relationship between teen girls. Do you want to help me introduce our next guest?
Hannah Telle: Yes, I would love to. She's amazing: the one and only Miss Ashly Burch, voice of Chloe' Price.
Ashly Burch: Hello!
Elyse Willems: Hi! Hey, Ashly Burch.
Ashly Burch: Hi! Hi Elyse Willems, hi Hannah Telle! It's nice to see both of you.
Hannah Telle: You too!
Elyse Willems: When was the last time that you two saw each other?
Ashly Burch: When was that? Was that when we did that livestream at um...
Hannah Telle: I think so.
Ashly Burch: Like, eons ago. I think that was the last time I saw you.
Hannah Telle: The 'Farewell' livestream in 2018. Yeah, I think that was the last time.
Ashly Burch: Yeah! It was fun.
Elyse Willems: So, [it's been] a while. Could either of you have imagined this game would've had on, I guess, on your careers and also just, the fans are clamouring to see a reunion.
Hannah Telle: Oh, it's pretty surreal.
Ashly Burch: Yeah, I mean, I don't know how you feel, Hannah. But I had no idea that it was gonna be as popular as it was. I know *we* liked it a lot! But you just never know when you're recording something, y'know, if people are gonna respond to it the way you're responding to it.
Hannah Telle: Definitely, I agree. We had no idea but it was a really incredible surprise.
Elyse Willems: Do a lot of fans come up to the two of you at conventions or just in public and say like, "It's Chloe!" or "It's Max!"
Ashly Burch: Yes, I think, uh... [pondering] I think Chloe might be the thing that people approach me about the most. People have just emotionally attached so much to these characters.
Hannah Telle: Definitely, I relate to that too. I think that people feel really emotionally attached because they can relate really heavily to these girls. I think it's pretty cool.
Elyse Willems: I know for me personally, the friendship that Max and Chloe have in the game is one that I look bad at friendship I had when I was in high school, and you know, you have the best friend you'd do anything for each other. It's so special.
Did the game change your perspective? Being so close inside that friendship, did it change your perspective on friendship?
Ashly Burch: It was really, I mean for me, I think the thing that's really cool about Max and Chloe is that they kind of take the idea of 'found family' to a whole new level because of the choice at the end of the game. They're really having to reckon with this idea of who they have the most love for and who they have that connection with. And especially - Ooh, cat!
All: [Laughter]
Hannah Telle: There will be cats!
Ashly Burch: But yeah, just the idea that - especially when you're young, the bonds that you make, they feel so strong. Because you're going through so much tremendous emotional and physical changes together.
Hannah Telle: Yeah, I feel like revisiting my youth and the relationships that I had at that time in order to prepare for this part, it really showed me how crucial these people were in my life. Now that you're older, maybe you didn't realise. But when you're young and you're going through so many intense evolutions, you really become adhered to that person that seems to get you the most. It's a very beautiful relationship.
Elyse Willems: Yeah, and what you're talking about - being that age and just going through a lot, having a lot that's brought on you, there's one particular character in the game that stands out to me, and that's Kate Marsh. She obviously is dealing with a lot, and we have Kate Marsh herself - Dayeanne Hutton - here to join us today, too. Dayeanne, you wanna come on out here?
Dayeanne Hutton: Hello!
Ashly Burch: Oh, she's got Hawt Dawg Man!
Elyse Willems: Hi!
Dayeanne Hutton: I do, I bring joy with me. [Laughter]
Elyse Willems: We're gonna get to Hawt Dawg Man later in the show, but I love that you have a life-sized representation of Hawt Dawg Man.
Dayeanne Hutton: I do, I do. I also have the Fan Gamer one that was recently released because you can never have too many Hawt Dawg Men.
Elyse Willems: Welcome, Dayeanne. You have a distinction of not just being Kate Marsh in Life is Strange, but also playing a few other characters: Alyssa Anderson and Juliet Watson.
Dayeanne Hutton: Yes! Those are my ladies.
Elyse Willems: And, from what I read, you didn't actually see any of the character models for any of these characters before you played them?
Dayeanne Hutton: No, no I didn't. I'm pretty sure Phil [Voiceover Director] told me that Alyssa had purple hair but that's all I got.
Elyse Willems: Did that matter for you, going into these characters?
Dayeanne Hutton: Um, no, not really, because I had Kate's character description and then Phil did an amazing job of filling me in on what I needed to know about their personalities, and then himself directing me the way everyone wanted me to go.
Elyse Willems: You did an amazing job because I had no idea, prior to this reunion, that you played all three of those characters.
Dayeanne Hutton: Thank go! [Laughter] It's hard to tell when it's your own voice, I was like: "Oh no, those all sound the same. That's terrible. I'm terrible. What's wrong with me?" So it's a relief to hear that.
Elyse Willems: No, you were amazing. And while we're talking about multiple characters, I do feel like we're missing a few more people.
And one man can reunite all those characters for us in one shot. Please welcome Nik Shriner.
Nik Shriner: Hey! I didn't know if you were talking about me.
All: [Laughter]
Nik Shriner: Is this my cue? Hi everybody.
Elyse Willems: Hi, Nik! We are welcoming not only Nik Shriner, but we're also welcoming Nathan Prescott, Daniel DaCosta, Trevor and Luke Parker. Trevor no last name, he's just 'Trevor'.[1]
Nik Shriner: I thought maybe for a second they were brothers or something. Trevor AND Luke Parker? I didn't realise that. Are they fraternal twins? Cousins maybe?
Elyse Willems: Hi, welcome. Yeah - like Dayeanne, I had no idea that you were doing so much work in this game.
Nik Shriner: I had no idea either. I would just get told that in the waiting room. Like, "You're also gonna do a French guy who may be from Spain, we're not quite sure where he's from."
Elyse Willems: And you said "No problem. I got it."
Nik Shriner: So that's where Daniel came from.
Elyse Willems: You definitely pulled it off. Another thing you pulled off was playing probably the most punchable character in the game, and that's Nathan Prescott. Who was just a real piece of work. How did that feel? Because he's just terrible the entire game and then toward the end you have this somewhat redeeming moment when he leaves Max the voicemail.
(continues at 8:46)
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