The Rookie (Halo Fan Film)

- Gage Yevgenny (Dirt): Grizzled ODST and protagonist of Dirt, the fifth short story part of the Halo Evolutions anthology book. Old, gruff and had enough, his story leads him to self sacrifice in the face of an invading alien armada and his backstabbing teammates. The Rookie, fresh out of bootcamp, answers his call for distress, and the old trooper regales the young cadet in his final moments with his story and provides much needed advice. His lines in my short film will be taken straight from the book. Based on the limited information we have about him, he can ultimately be anyone. However, I would say he would suit an older and rougher sounding vocal tone, and I feel his name leans me more towards an eastern european accent for the character. With his lines being the very first there will be a lot riding on him for hooking the viewers of this film into the story, however I am confident the strength of his lines will carry that easily and with potentially your voice it could be fantastic.

- Pelican Pilot and Co-Pilot (Dirt): The two final characters the Rookie encounters in Dirt, albeit brief and technically unnamed roles, however important in picking the Rookie up at the end of the mission and informing him of the need to return to Earth for the events of Halo 3 ODST. I’m leaning towards a friendly jokier voice for these to contrast Gage, however they can be any accent, any gender, even any tonality. They will have heightened reactionary lines, since they witness the Shiva core detonate right before spotting Rook and landing for pickup. and while the book gives the Pilot two lines and the Co-Pilot only one, all three are after Rook hops on board. I believe it will easy to and likely very helpful in creating an image in the viewers minds to provide them with custom over-radio lines briefly reacting to the events. My thought is to potentially choose one male and one female VA for these roles.

- Admiral Heisenberg (Custom): A character until now entirely unnamed (name is a placeholder and a reference you might catch), the Admiral of the UNSC Say My Name from the opening sequence of Halo 3 ODST, he or she could be anyone as they’ve never been defined, however a good strong voice could work best, someone with a voice that commands authority. We’ve seen a great many captains and admirals in Halo, most fit the same grumpy old man trope…While I would be happy to mirror the games and hopefully capture the essence of the world, I am also very open to contrasting it too, I’m happy to hear Auditions for the Admiral from anyone as well. Perhaps I might be pleasantly surprised by an unexpected voice for them. Heisenberg will be assigning The Rookie to Alpha-Nine and hastily promoting him to Lance Corporal.

- Alpha-Nine Handler (Custom): Gear outfitter for the squads of the UNSC 'Say My Name', the voice of a friend, but also someone who’d knock some sense into you if you did something stupid. They will be gearing The Rookie up for his drop into New Mombasa (since the cadet lost his old gear in Dirt), as well as introducing him to Alpha-Nine, the squad led by GYSGT Buck he joins in the game. For this character they’ll need a certain quality as if knowing this may be these troopers last mission, a convincing demeanour that would ease Rooks mind that this gear will help him make it through to sunrise. I’ll also attempt to use this handler to mention Operation: Joint Monitor, a mission we know very little about, which apparently saw Alpha-Nine with the same members as Halo 3 ODST containing the flood exclusion zone in Voi at the end of the Human-Covenant war. Allegedly, no flood was detected, but a mission like that, surely that fact needs undoing...

- ONI Operative (Custom): Someone dark, broody, lots of secrets, equal footing with Rook rankwise, but a bit of a rabble rouser. This character will introduce The Rookie to deep cover ONI work. As I may mention elsewhere in this casting call, the book Halo New Blood sees Alpha-Nine undergo one final mission as a full team, to the planet Draco III. Their task was to disperse the rebel insurgence there led by CPT Ingridson. During it, The Rookie was ordered by Buck to secure their exit, and in doing so got himself captured by the rebels. SPOILERS AHEAD: As a result, in a brash final action Ingridson takes the Rookie with her. To a great number of fans, and after reading it; myself included, this was an unsavoury action by the writers particularly due to the methods used to do it. Ultimately, this film will aim to serve as not only a second wind for a game that stood out to a lot of fans as the best in the franchise but also bring back a beloved character which to most actually served as a blank slate and a pair of boots to fill, a ”john doe” if you will (which is literally his name btw) that could be any one of us. To cut this tangent short, this ONI operative plans to undo this event without unwriting that book, by using CPT Ingridson to fake The Rookie’s passing, in order to use him for a deep cover and highly confidential ONI mission. One that will link all of the unanswered questions of Halo 3 ODST.

- Rani Sobeck (ONI) [Olivia Burnette]: A familiar name in Halo lore, only recently have I realised this character has actually been voiced, which occurred during the Halo 2 “ilovebees” ARG campaign, in which a lengthy Halo story was told through a series of short audio logs; Bungie themselves would ring public payphones which when answered by any random passerby would play these audio stories on the other end. Rani is part of a section of ONI which would put her at the forefront of this covert mission explained in the primary description and in order voice role descriptions. Since I believe she was young at the time the audio logs took place and time has passed, this voice may only need to be reminiscent of Olivia’s, and not necessarily perfectly mimic her. I will also note I dont think we have any idea of what she looks like so the image may be completely inaccurate, I simply described her as she is in the halopedia and this is what it gave me.

- Captain Ingridson (New Blood): Leader of the rebels on Draco III, she’s full of bottled up anger and as explained in the ONI operator role, plays a critical part of Rookies story in New Blood. She has learnt to dislike the UNSC for their role in the Human-Covenant war, and particularly for not disestablishing themselves at the wars end. A misguided mindset as the Covenant forces still persist and new threats like the Prometheans and Banished are yet to rise. However, as she sees it the UNSC are only still around for her and human rebels like her. The lines she has are very emotive. and this section will see her respond and engage with Alpha-Nine as a new character, hence making it a challenging set of shoes to fill; acting against existing roles. Based on her name (as thats all I really have) I'd say she is potentially of Northern European descent, so perhaps a Scandinavian accent may suit her best.

- Wombat Drone Operator (Custom): The ‘final’ voice will be a Wombat Drone Operator, these drones can be seen during ODST (one crashes in front of Dutch in his mission and becomes a clue for Rookie to find). As I have a camera drone myself I believe it would be most fitting to use it and add to the feel of the film by incorporating an overwatch. To pair with this drone, I would like to find someone to voice a much more lengthy role than any of the above, which would involve providing radio callouts and field intel to the Rookie. I will be looking to edit this voiceover with a radio style and possibly be seeking a somewhat more flat voice for the role. However, added flair will be welcome!

I may also be looking for impressionists for characters which have been voiced already in the games. 

As I’m very much opposed to the use of AI in replacing human creativity I would much prefer not to resort to it. I will be looking for anyone who may be able to perform impressions of the following characters/voice actors/actresses: GYSGT Buck (Nathan Fillion), CPT Dare (Tricia Helfer), LCPL Romeo (Nolan North), PVT Mickey (Alan Tudyk), CPL Dutch (Adam Baldwin), SGTMJR Avery Johnson (David Scully), CMDR Sarah Palmer (Jennifer Hale), Sadie Endesha (Masasa Moyo), Vergil/The Superintendent AI (Joseph Staten), and the possibility of Covenant Enemy Voices; ie. Brutes, Elites, Grunts, Jackals etc. I intend to be clever with my filmmaking, placing these enemies out of frame to avoid the use of CGI, while still having them present. That being said, Buck, Romeo, Mickey, Dutch, and Palmer are present during Captain Ingridsons section in New Blood, without their lines it may be very difficult to include that scene (which may force me to resort to ai use, very much would like to avoid this). Dare, Johnson, Sadie, and Vergil may be very useful roles for expanding my films link to Vergil; the Huragok which provides the coordinates for The Rookie to hunt down in this film. and lastly, Vergils voice along with the Covenant enemies will be highly useful to include throughout the second and third acts of the film, the enemies as a foil for The Rookie to stealthily avoid and Vergil as a guiding voice over comms for Rook to follow. You may opt to choose your own lines which have already been said by these characters, or I have provided a number of samples which could work as well.

As this is a Halo fan film, and as such resides in a world of spaceships, aliens, futuristic weapons and amazing sets I may also be looking for someone to aid in bringing those parts of the film to life.

I have at this stage limited the scope of my film to exclude CGI almost entirely, and use clever tricks to place these elements out of frame simply referencing their existence with sound and character reactions. However, I would certainly not be opposed to someone with skills in this field being part of the team if they believe they can help expand the potential scope of this project, any help would be greatly appreciated 100%. Looking forward to hearing from you!

[The following section can be safely ignored if you only wish to know your own role in the film, however this will give you a good thorough knowledge of the character the film will be centered around, without the need for your own research, if you would like to know more. Additionally, included within this character bio is custom lore I've added to link my film into whats already been established, so if you feel anything seems out of place I'm open to criticisms/advice!]

Jonathan Doherty, nicknamed "The Rookie", is a Lance Corporal and ODST of the UNSC Marine Corps and fought during the Human-Covenant war and post-war years. Born in Crisium City, Naniwa on Luna, where he lived until enlisting in the Marine Corps in 2547, the Rookie was deployed during many offensives against the Covenant, including the Battle of New Jerusalem, the Raid on Mount Haven, and the Battle of New Mombasa on Earth. During this time, he worked his way up the ranks from Private First Class in New Jerusalem to Lance Corporal and member of Alpha-Nine, a squad of elite ODSTs led by Gunnery Sergeant Buck in the Battle for Earth.

Prior to his assignment with Alpha Nine, the Rookie was pulled aside by Admiral Heisenberg of the UNSC Say My Name. During this discussion he would be promoted to Lance Corporal and informed of his reassignment to Alpha-Nine. However, after donning a spare set of ODST armour that didn't fit quite right and dropping from the Say My Name hovering over New Mombasa, the Rookies drop pod was hit by Private Michael Crespo's pod and spiraled out of control into the occupied city.

After six hours unconscious in his crashed pod and many more fighting in the city, discovering clues about his units whereabouts, and being guided by the Superintendent city AI to find audio logs about Sadie, an important civilian girl the AI had been protecting, the Rookie finally received a signal from Dare. With this information and a destination to find her, the Rookie headed underground beneath the city to reunite with his Captain.

There, he discovered that her true mission was to recover the Superintendent AI's data core, as the data it held about what the Covenant were digging for in the city was critical to the Office of Naval Intelligence. Before long, Dare and the Rookie discovered that one of the Huragoks, an alien bio-supercomputer, had betrayed the Covenant and downloaded the AI's data, including the subroutine named Vergil which was designed to protect its creators daughter, Sadie.

Quick to Adjust, the Huragok which combined the data with its own, would then be 'renamed' Vergil by the pair as they met up once more with Gunnery Sergeant Buck and fought their way out of the city ensuring they protected Vergil as best they could. The rest of the team, rounded up by Buck during the day, arrived to pick up the group rescuing their new alien pal from the clutches of the Covenant along with the valuable data he now held.

After some time with Vergil they found that coaxing the information out of him would not be as easy as they first believed. The team called upon the aid of Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, who provided the floating gasball with a sign of trust and an ultimatum, that he would help bring the Covenant that enslaved him to justice if Vergil told him what they were digging for. After a month of Johnson's interrogation, Vergil obliged, and the team discovered that the Covenant was digging to uncover an ancient Forerunner structure designed to lead to the Ark, which, if reached by the Covenant, could mean the end to all life.

However, now, it would seem this was not the only information harboured by Vergil, and due to the data being merged with himself, only an ONI operative could truly pry the highly classified data from his mind. As the war came to a close, in short order Buck and Alpha-Nine were redeployed for Operation: Joint Monitor, which consisted of biohazard containment in the Voi exclusion zone to ensure no Flood presence could be detected. Meanwhile, back on the Quito Space Tether terminus, Dare is asked to speak further with Vergil, whom by this point had learned to communicate using a tablet he modified himself.

During this time, Captain Dare was provided a cryptic message and a set of coordinates by Vergil, along with one word repeating on the tablet, "Rookie". Any further questioning led Vergil to respond only in strange three pointed symbols, which the team had also seen dotted around the city in New Mombasa. With no knowledge of what these symbols meant, and the tensions between ONI and UNSC commands growing stronger, Dare's report forced the ONI operatives to accept Vergils request and pull the Rookie aside during Operation: Joint Monitors debriefing.

The Rookie would be informed that UNSC involvement would deeply complicate their intelligence operation, and that simply pulling him from Alpha-Nine would lead the often insubordinate team into questioning that would raise far too many eyebrows at the UNSC.

This had to be deep cover.

Almost a year after the end of the Human-Covenant war, Bucks lovely vacation with Dare on planet Sundown, and an offer for Buck to join the SPARTAN-IV program, to which he refused, Dare assigned Buck and Alpha-Nine to a rebel suppression mission on planet Draco III.

However, during this same year, ONI had been preparing the Rookie for probably his greatest challenge yet, convincing his entire team, and the UNSC as a whole, of his untimely demise. To achieve this, ONI dusted off one of their old tricks, the same trick they used in the past when selecting promising children for their SPARTAN program. They would replace the Rookie with an identical flash-clone, whose death would convince the team without doubt that their comrade had fallen.

During the mission, this faux "Rookie" would be asked by Buck to secure their emergency exit, which was a perfect opportunity for the plan to take place. The Rookie's clone would get himself caught and his helmet removed so there could be no mistake. Captain Ingridson, the leader of the rebel front on Draco III, would then take the bait and execute him in a last ditch effort to make an impact for her cause, and for this she was killed herself.

The Rookie's death would later result in complications within Alpha-Nine, but one of the intended side effects would be that Buck reconsider his position on joining the SPARTAN-IVs.

Now that his team would be off his tail, and there would be no snooping UNSC personnel, the Rookie's mission would commence. Veronica Dare would oversee the mission and watch along using an F-99 Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle nicknamed "Wombat", while the Rookie would arrive on a presumed uninhabited planet and the location of Vergil's mysterious coordinates, unaware of the dangers that would await him...