This article contains spoilers for Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2 actor Roger Clark has revealed that Arthur Morgan’s gnarly coughing fits were actually recorded when he was sick in real life.
I recently interviewed Roger Clark for a YouTube video about how Arthur Morgan from Red Dead Redemption was crafted. During our lengthy conversation, I was able to ask him something I’ve always wondered: How taxing is it to pretend to violently cough like Arthur does? According to Clark, it’s actually not that bad — and in some cases, he wasn’t even pretending.
“It’s not as bad as you’d think, because I had five years to spread it out,” said Clark. “If ever there was a really bad coughing scene, we’d always save it for the end of the day. So, it wasn’t as bad as you might think. I had five years to space it out. In five years, there’s plenty of colds. There was a lot of data we got that was pretty damn genuine. […] I’d be like ‘Hey, I’ve got a cold, let me get in there.’ And they’d be like, ‘Okay.’ […] Nice good bit of phlegm.”
There’s really no better way to act than to actually experience the scene in your real life. Arthur Morgan is almost partially defined by his coughing; the character contracts Tuberculosis early on in the story after beating a man to death for some money. It’s almost a cruel karmic punishment for the life Arthur has led and, depending on the player’s choices, they can attempt to redeem the cowboy by helping out others.
As the game goes on, Arthur’s coughing gets worse and worse. The player isn’t initially aware of why Arthur is so sick, until he starts hacking up his lungs, passes out, and is dragged into a doctor for a proper diagnosis. It’s a unique direction to take a game in, and it’s part of what makes the story of Red Dead Redemption 2 so memorable.