PAYDAY 3: Blog Update #27 – Interview with Derek Ray (Houston)
Almir had a conversation with Derek Ray, who’s reprising his role as the voice and likeness of Houston.
Derek has a long history with PAYDAY and we, on pretty short notice asked the community for a few questions. We asked as many as we had time for during an hour – we saved our favorites and wrote them down for you guys in this week’s blog.
We have edited the answer for space and length where needed.
If you want to see more from Derek or keep track of when the first video from his YouTube channel gets published, check him out on X.
So, Jamie Dark Star asked, well, they have a crush on someone and how do I act when I have a crush?
There’s funny answers and real answers, Jamie Dark Star. <>The funny answer is that; you should ask them to play PAYDAY, and you should choose to play as me, and they’ll respect that and like you back.
But the real answer is: You can never be anyone but yourself because otherwise, you’ll have to put on an act every time you see this person, and that is going to be exhausting. So just be yourself.
Do you like hurting people?
No, this is an easy one no. Especially now that I’ve become a father. I see everyone as having been someone’s little bundle of joy at some point, and… no way I want to hurt anyone.
Crispy asked “cake or icecream?”
It’s ice cream. Definitely ice cream, chocolate, fudge and brownie is my all-time favorite flavor.
JJ the twisted Jester asks, do you like the live-action series?
Yes, yes, love the live-action series because, in the video game, it’s sort of like a caricature of the character with only a cursory glance at the person behind the mask.
While in a live-action series. You get to have other characters asking you questions and interacting with you, and your character has to have opinions about everything, even if just in expression. So it’s a lot more work as an actor to decide; how you feel about everything, both the mundane, everyday life but also high-stakes situations.
This is a good one. Wolfie asks, between PAYDAY 2 and 3. What have I been up to?
The acting world and television has kind of slowed down a little for me. When I started acting, you couldn’t be an actor unless you lived in Los Angeles. Now that couldn’t be further from the truth. New places are everywhere. It’s in Atlanta and Vancouver it’s basically everywhere except California. And now that I have a little boy, I don’t really want to travel over the place right now for two to three weeks or months at a time.
Instead, I’ve been writing a lot and I’ve been working on starting a YouTube channel.
A YouTube channel, you say? What is it about?
Yeah, yeah, it’s a pretty cool premise. The first video is coming soon, and the channel will be about auditioning for television and film.
During the pandemic, everything changed. It used to be if I got an audition for a TV show or film, I would get the script, I would get the sides maybe 24 to 48 hours beforehand, and then I had to prepare it and drive myself to an office and sign in like it’s the doctor’s office, wait for them to call me in, and I go in and I get one or two takes.
I was always the type of person who prepared with all I had, I made sure I knew what I was doing in the scene and that I felt comfortable in that scenario, I think even if I wasn’t the best for the role or the best actor to audition, I still won a lot of roles that way.
Now there is none of that, they send it to, you get two to four days and you can set up your equipment in your living room and you can shoot a hundred thousand takes of yourself.
And the channel is focused around that, as well as advice from friends in the industry who are on the other side of that process.
So anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to. If anybody really wanted to see me act, I would say, the last big thing that I did was a show called Rebel. I played a character called Jimmy. It was on BET, you can stream it. There’s a lot of Jimmy in there…
You mentioned writing; what kind of writing do you do?
Well, I grew up in a small town. During the winters, not having a license, I only really had my imagination to keep me company. So, writing was a natural extension of that.
So I’ve written a Western film based around the song Pancho and Lefty by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and how that came about.
Then I’ve probably written four or five TV pilots. Importantly, there’s a big difference between writing and selling a product.
The only thing I wrote that made it through the whole way, to actually become real was a short called Adult Night that my good friends Kevin Alejandro and Lesley-Ann Brandt really liked, you might know them from the show Lucifer. That’s kinda of how a lot of things get made, a good actor or director finds something, then money kind of materializes from the ether and you have a show.
From there on I felt that I write because I really love to. And a perfect day really to me includes mostly writing and spending time with my son.
(didn’t catch the name)
And then I just had two more questions that I read from Instagram, which is go to meal before a heist. You gotta get carbs. I think if I were going to heist something in real life, I would choose some pasta. Or something healthy and then… One of my favorite things, which is, to eat before a workout if I’m gonna run or something like that, is, I take waffles and I put peanut butter on them this is gonna probably sound really disgusting to you Swedes, and very American. But I put creamy peanut butter on the waffles and then syrup.
From “A Muffy” crafts cereal or milk first?
Does anyone pour milk first?
(no name) Do you remember any favorite part of shooting the web series?
It sounds a little egotistical, but in the opening dialogue in the van Houston says “robbing banks with your friends is fun”. The premise we were working on at the time didn’t have a lot of context, so adding that always stuck with me.
That monologue in the beginning while we were getting ready in the van was the first thing I ever wrote that made it to live. I made it up as we were shooting and the director liked it and kept it. So that part will always be sentimental to me.
We're also running a form over the weekend to better understand your view on the game's modifiers! If you have a couple of minutes to spare, it would help the team as a whole to better understand as we work on the system. Form can be found HERE.
Have a good weekend, heisters!
