Resident Evil Village Used a Giant, Grumpy Stand-In for Lady Dimitrescu’s Performance Capture

The actor behind Lady Dimitrescu has revealed more about the motion capture process that brought the character to life – including a big, grumpy pole that was used to simulate her 9’6″ eyeline in real life.Lady Dimitrescu actress Maggie Robertson has been delighting fans during Resident Evil Village’s launch weekend by responding to fan art and complementing cosplays of the popular character, as well as providing a behind-the-scenes look at the game.

In one post Robertson revealed “the grumpy stand-in,” a giant pole with a soft head marked with a frowny face. According to Robertson, this was used during performance capture to “mark Lady D’s actual size and eye lines” while on set.

How the sausage gets made part 2: This is what we used to mark Lady D’s actual size and eye lines. Clearly, she’s grumpy after chasing people around the castle all day. #thegrumpystandin #LadyDimitrescu #ResidentEvilVillage

(check out that hat tho. It’s a look ) pic.twitter.com/I7g6f8K2L8

Have you played Resident Evil VIllage?

YESNO

— Maggie Robertson (@maggiethebard) May 10, 2021

Lady Dimitrescu became an internet sensation before Village’s release, not least because of her huge height – but it’s easy to forget that in the age of AAA performance capture, that then causes potential trouble for real-life actors trying to simulate talking to a fictional, towering vampire lady. Capcom’s lo-fi solution is a neat (and funny) way to get around the issue – and I now want modders to get to work on a grumpy stand-in model for the actual game.

Robertson also shared another video that shows previsualizations and motion capture footage from some key scenes in the game, including when Lady Dimitrescu tastes Ethan’s blood and throws her dressing table in a fit of rage.

For those of you wondering how the sausage gets made…https://t.co/fxXQz4b5EF

— Maggie Robertson (@maggiethebard) May 7, 2021

“I’m beyond grateful for how welcoming the entire Resident Evil community has been. Floored by all the love & support you all have given me over these past few days,” Robertson said on Twitter. “Keep spreading all of that love around in the name of House Dimitrescu!” We spoke extensively to Capcom about the creation of Lady Dimitrescu, and how they reacted to her sudden popularity. I wonder how they’ve reacted to her being modded into a Thomas the Tank Engine hybrid…

In other Resident Evil Village news, here are 17 brilliant little details, and a cut fan favourite character who could have made it into the game in a very unexpected costume. We scored it an 8 in our review, calling it a “genuinely engrossing and increasingly combat-heavy continuation of the Ethan Winters story.”

Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.