The Mass Effect series owes much of its story, setting, and tone to blockbuster films, and the default model of the male Commander Sheppard was inspired by a major Hollywood superstar. Throughout the first three Mass Effect games, players took control of the fully-customizable Shepard as they journeyed across the Milky Way galaxy and rallied together a rag-tag group of allies to defeat the sinister Reapers. Fans recently got to re-experience this epic storyline with the release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, a remaster of the original Mass Effect trilogy that managed to sur publisher EA’s sales expectations when it launched last May.
Mass Effect series art director Derek Watts recently sat down with Mass Effect's Commander Shepard. As he tells it, the design team was initially struggling with how the Specter-turned-savior of the galaxy would look, so they started brainstorming ideas among the rest of BioWare. “There are a lot of people that took it seriously, and a lot of people didn't,” Watts recalled, noting that one team member suggested that Shepard should look like a “rugby team player” with their face “all bashed up with tape on their ear.”
BioWare Cast George Clooney As The Inspiration For Commander Shepard
One of the more serious suggestions came from Mass Effect level artist Mike Jeffries, who proposed that the default male Shepard have the head of George Clooney, star of the Ocean's films and the Coen Brothers' O' Brother, Where Art Thou?. Watts says that Jefferies showed him “a good picture” of this concept, and that it was a breakthrough for his team while developing the original Mass Effect. “That for us, as we showed people, we were like, 'OK, this is going in the right direction,’” he added. “Not because of George Clooney, but a bit of that look - the short hair, square jaw.” This thought process would eventually lead BioWare to cast Dutch model Mark Vanderloo as the face model for the default male Commander Shepard in the three original Mass Effect games. The base Shepard has become an iconic part of the series even despite its customization options, as they are featured prominently in Mass Effect's promotional material and in fan videos on YouTube.
Of course, this George Clooney inspiration only applies to the default male Commander Shepard that players see when they start a new Mass Effect game from the original trilogy, as one of the series' hallmarks is the ability to customize Mass Effect's space-fairing Commandeer Shepard in any way the player sees fit. It's still amusing to note that George Clooney was the face that BioWare had in mind when creating Commander Shepard, as the standard Mark Vanderloo model doesn’t really have much in common with the famous actor at first glance. However, the choice of Clooney as the inspiration for Shepard is still fitting given his charisma as a leading actor and action star - traits shared with Commander Shepard throughout the entire Mass Effect trilogy.
Fans could see Commander Shepard return to Mass Effect someday, as voice actors Mark Meer and Jennifer Hale have expressed interest in reprising their role in a future Mass Effect game like the , Unreal Engine-developed Mass Effect 5. In the meantime, perhaps a Mass Effect player could start a new playthrough of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition with a Shepard more directly modeled after George Clooney - fulfilling BioWare’s vision for the character during the early development stages of the first Mass Effect game.
Source: TechRadar Gaming (via GamesRadar)
