Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet lead star Tony Dalton has shared his experience working with Naughty Dog on its upcoming title.
In a recent interview with Culture Wave Media (via Okami13_ on Twitter/X), actor Tony Dalton, who played the role of Lalo Salamanca in Better Call Saul, reflected on how his relationship with Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann began and how it led him to working as one of the characters in Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
The collaboration started with HBO’s The Last of Us series, where Dalton played Joel Miller’s father in what many consider one of the show’s most impactful scenes. According to the Better Call Saul actor, the role came about in a casual manner after he met Druckmann at the Emmys. Dalton recalled, “He called me up through Instagram. He sent me an Instagram [message]. He’s like, ‘Hey, remember me?’ He goes, ‘You want to be in Last of Us?’ I was like, ‘What?’”
Druckmann had a specific vision for the part, including a familiar detail from Dalton’s prior roles. “‘Yeah, I want you to be Joel’s dad,’” Dalton remembered him saying. “‘I’m going to write you a really cool scene. I just need you to grow your mustache again.’” He joked that the mustache has been a career asset, adding, “I think that the mustache has gotten me more work in my life than anything else.”
After shooting the scene, Druckmann approached Dalton with a new opportunity; one that would push him outside his comfort zone. “He said, ‘Listen, I love working with you and I want to get you into this video game that I’m doing. Have you ever done this before?’” Dalton admitted he hadn’t, and that Druckmann then explained the scale of the industry, which the former noted is “apparently bigger than music and film combined.”
The conversation led to Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, where Dalton plays “one of the leads”. According to him, the experience, has been unlike anything else in his career. “It’s insane. It’s crazy. I mean, it’s like nothing I’ve ever done in my life,” he explained, detailing the motion-capture process with skin-tight suits, facial markers, and camera rigs. “These guys are top of the line,” he said of Naughty Dog. “And also working with Neil, he’s the sweetest guy in the world. He’s great.”
Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is set for release exclusively for PlayStation 5.
