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Alison Carroll on being Lara Croft: "I want to bring something new to Lara"
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With Tomb Raider: Underworld now on stores shelves for holiday shopping consumption; it’s time for Eidos’ big promotional push. And with any Tomb Raider promotional campaign there’s a nice real live Lara Croft to go along with it. In past years, Lara Croft have been played by a variety of models and actresses to promote the games and this year the role has been given to gymnast, model and actress Alison Carroll.
As part of her role as Lara Croft, Carroll travels the world promoting the game, doing photo shoots and basically does an acrobatic/gymnast/combat routine for the fans. We caught up with Carroll to see how her world tour is going, her gaming experience, and what her underwater photo shoot was like.
How did you get this Lara Croft gig?
My agent actually picked me up for the role, I’m with an acting agency, so off I went to the audition. I was up against so many other girls there. There were dancers and martial arts experts and there were stunt girls, but I went in as a gymnast. So I had to perform all of my gymnastic skills, I did my rolls, my backflips and my summersaults. Then I got a recall and I was like, ‘Wooow, I might actually get this gig.’ I really wanted it. So I went back the next day and managed to make it to the last two. I was up against a British kick boxer. So, ya know, it was a kick boxer versus a gymnast. So I got to try on the outfits and it was quite difficult to do gymnastics when you got heavy boots on and a knapsack and everything. But I did it and I got the job.
How long will you be Lara Croft?
Well, I’m promoting Tomb Raider Underworld, so for as long as Tomb Raider Underworld needs promoting, I suppose.
Did you ever play any Tomb Raider games or video games in general, beforehand?
I’ve played them in stages and I’m not very good at it. I’m actually the kind of girl that likes to do things in real life. But my brothers are gamers and they’ve played the whole Tomb Raider series, so of course I’ve watched them play it which has been brilliant so I’ve had quite a bit of understanding of Tomb Raider and the role of Lara Croft.
Were you nervous at all about playing the role after someone like Angelina Jolie did it in the movies?
Absolutely! They’re big boots to fill. There’s Angelina Jolie and the other models that have also played the role so it’s quite daunting to take that on. It’s a real responsibility I think. But I wanted to bring something new to the role as all the others have, I wanted to do the same. I think with my gymnastic skills, I’m a bit of an action girl myself. I love rock climbing, scuba diving, horse riding and mountain biking as well. So I’m quite similar to Lara in that respect. So hopefully I’m bringing Lara to life in a different way.
What kind of things have you been doing to promote Tomb Raider Underworld on your world tour?
Every day is different. In Australia I got to go surfing, which is good. In Singapore I got to ride a jet bike and I did a photo shoot in the jungle. In Dubai, I had 80 Harley Davidsons escorting me in an open top jeep all around Dubai. That was just unbelievable, the most exhilarating experience ever. Every day is different. I’ve been rock climbing, canoeing as well, so it’s different every day.
What kind of preparations did you do for the role?
Well, as an actress, I thought it was important to do quite a bit of research for the role. So I did look at the in depths of the game, watch the movies, and I had a choreographer come in and we worked on the Lara Croft gymnastic routine. It’s a good mixture of gymnastics and combat together. We worked on hard on putting something together that would look as much like the in-game character as much as possible.
So do you get to fire real pistols?
Haha… no. I have my dual pistols here but they’re just replicas. I will actually be doing some firearm training at some point but I’ve been so busy travelling the globe, it hasn’t been possible yet. But maybe soon.
I saw video of an underwater photo shoot. How did that go?
Oh my goodness, it was so cool. I had to learn scuba diving in 20 minutes, so that was a challenge in itself. I had two guys looking after me. One guy pulled me to the bottom of the tank and tying me down to the bottom. I didn’t have any equipment on, so the other guy was there to give me oxygen. So when I was doing the shoot, everyone would swim away, I would hold my breath, and pose and that sort of thing. And when I would want more air, I would do the signal and the guy would come swimming back and shove the oxygen thing in my mouth. So that’s how it would work but at one point the mouthpiece didn’t come and I was like ‘huh?’ And I can’t see anything down there because of the bright lights for the photography. But my mouthpiece got caught on something else, so the guy that’s looking after me had to give me his mouthpiece. Now he didn’t have any oxygen, so he had to swim down and get the other guy’s mouthpiece, we’re all interlinked, but we can’t go up to the surface because I’m tied to the bottom of the tank. So that was quite scary, but we eventually floated up to safety and everything was fine.
That’s pretty crazy. So, as a gymnast what kind of things did you do prior to this gig?
Bit and pieces. I trained for 12 years in gymnastics and performed around my country and evne performed for Prince Charles. I also performed at the Royal Albert Hall and the Westminster Abbey in London. But I also got to represent Great Britain in gymnastics competitions.
How often do you work out?
I train six days a week now, going running and to the gym. I still do gymnastics training when I can, but I like doing my outdoor sports as well.
So what’s next for Alison Carroll?
At the moment, I’m just concentrating on playing the part of Lara Croft. But after that, I kind of wants to pursue my acting career, so maybe some films and television.
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