Andi Norris and Paula Rhodes interview
I find what Andi Norris says in her interview about Donna Beneviento very interesting, and since very few people have seen the interview, I'm going to summarize what she says.
Andi Norris talking about Donna is the best thing ever. She understands that Donna's story is one of suffering and loss and describes how Donna must have felt about the opportunity to be adopted and have power. And how alone she must have felt.
Andi talks about how therapists help children with dolls too, since children often communicate through them. Andi narrates how Donna, through Angie, reveals how she is feeling, or at least her repressed feelings. Andi says that, to get into character, Donna may have had to cope with the death of her parents using her own dolls.
Andi doesn't consider her a villain; she says that in many games, whoever attacks you, for whatever reason, is considered a villain. The interviewer clarifies: in fights, you run from the villain; in the fight with Donna, she runs from you.
She then clarifies that Donna's relationship with the other lords is complicated. Although they appear to interact with each other, it seems they are playing games. She also notes that Donna is very isolated. Even during their fight, she remains distant from the protagonist. Angie interacts more with them, but Donna does not.
Then someone asks how Donna got her scar, to which Andi refuses to answer.
The most interesting line in the interview is this one:
“It’s so sad… It’s such a deep place… So much loss for someone who is already incapable of public communication and connection to then lose her parents… and knowing the opportunity to be adopted by Miranda must have been such a light, and then the opportunity for power for someone who doesn’t have any power. She’s just alone with Angie and her other dolls.”
Here is Paula Rhodes interview
On the other side Paula, who voices Angie, provides even more information. For example, she talks about how they decided that only one woman would voice both Angie and Donna. But because of their powers, they decided to give them different voices. Also, to differentiate them a little.
Then, she explains how she believes that in her free time she does gardening and makes dolls with her most prized doll (Angie) and a cup of tea. She thinks they don't dust much and that they spend a lot of time making dolls.
Something very interesting that Paula explains is that, when immersed in something so profound, she mentally prepares herself to see Angie as Donna's personal light, given Donna's very dark past. That's why Angie is the only happy thing left in Donna that she allows herself to show through her doll. This way, Donna doesn't have to get her hands dirty doing 'dirty things'.
Here is another Andi interview
In another interview, Andi explains how Miranda only sees the lords as research subjects and how each house is jealous of Rose, since she's not disposable. So it's understandable that Angie wonders if Ethan does that to Rose too. Angie is a manifestation of that envy, so Donna's feelings are directly transferred to Angie. Although Donna doesn't hate Ethan or Rose directly, she hates what they represent. Then she talks about the baby monster, which Donna imagines as a giant monster that will take everything from her, just as it was taken from her long ago, and that's how Donna sees it. This is very interesting because we see it from Ethan's perspective, not Donna's.
In the audition, it was clearer that Donna speaks through Angie; at least it's more apparent than in the game, as Andi explains. Something very interesting she mentions is that the notes said (Donna and Donna's child voice). Adding to Miranda's adoption, her deceased parents, and a scar that caused her social anxiety, she explains that Donna speaks through Angie, releasing her trauma through her toys. Children can avoid trauma or become obsessed with it, and Donna may have become obsessed with her own trauma. Having been rejected by Mother Miranda, she has lost everything she had. Angie is all she has left, and she is simply her darkest side. At least, that's how she interprets it.
Furthermore, it seems the dolls each have a hidden meaning, but Angie is the important one. It's as if the others are a representation of Donna's tortured mind, while Angie is the only way to communicate, the only thing that remains. Andi explains that Angie is more important, that she's the gift, the original. It's as if the other parts of Donna have died.
How much is a hallucination and how much isn't? Were the dolls attacking? The baby was a hallucination, but it seems Donna has an obsession with family and is torturing Ethan with the most important thing they have in common: family. Donna has lost it; Ethan hasn't yet.
Andi wonders, how difficult was it for Donna to access the rooms where her parents used to work? Andi has a theory that the further we go through the house, the further we advance in Donna's timeline. We first enter with several closed doors, as if her parents wanted to keep them closed to a young Donna until she's an adult and has access to those previously off-limits areas. The interviewer theorizes that Donna might have gotten rid of her parents' belongings, given how nearly empty the closets seem. Andi corrects him, saying that Donna keeps several of her parents' things—books, the music box, Angie herself—it's just that there's one particular room we can't access.
Donna seems to act out of fear, but there seems to be a part of her that seeks dominance, as if her life were never in control and she needed to be in the driver's seat.
Andi explains how she understands being so broken that you need another element external to yourself to communicate with another person.
Another interview with Andi
Andi explains how Donna was only trying to defend herself and do what she believed she needed to do to survive. When asked her opinion of Donna, she says her story is heartbreaking and that she's afraid of being judged, which is why she chooses to be alone. In the audition, Donna's voice sometimes blended with Angie's, but then they removed it, and she understood that it was to reinforce that self-imposed wall of loneliness and separation. Her only connection, or her last, is Angie, something she uses to connect with others. The interviewer explains that she has a friend whom she invited over while playing the game, and that the friend said toys can help process trauma. Andi adds that to mentally prepare herself to be like Donna, she had to think like her, that is, process the trauma of her parents' death through dolls over and over again.
In this interview where both are interviewed we can see the same ideas in more detail.
Andi mentions that when she received the audition, she was told that the characters were being cast separately, but she still decided to audition for both. During the audition, she portrayed a “split personality”, which ended up being very funny because it fit the character's nature.
During motion capture, Donna had almost no lines of dialogue because her performance was primarily physical. (Andi did a great job there not gonna lie)
Paula explains that Angie acts as a vessel for everything Donna represses. That is, all the emotions, impulses, and thoughts that Donna cannot express come out through Angie. That's why Angie displays a complete lack of inhibitions, allowing the character to act chaotically, aggressively, and mockingly.
Both explain that Angie represents Donna's psychological split. Donna represses emotions and behaviors, while Angie expresses everything without filters. This creates a dynamic where Angie acts cruelly or mockingly, while Donna remains silent.
Donna is a very solitary and withdrawn character. According to Andi and Paula, when someone lives in isolation for a long time and suddenly gains power over another person, they can feel a kind of excitement or satisfaction. That's why, when Ethan arrives at the house, Donna can feel a mixture of curiosity, power, and control, since for the first time she isn't the most vulnerable person.
It's said that Donna is more human than other villains, because her evil stems from an emotional core: all characters have a "void" they try to fill.
In a podcast with Andi Norris, she says she feels Donna's anxiety and that in the Japanese version it is mentioned that the scar refers to something more psychological, but in the English version it is mentioned as something more physical. All of this in her imagination. She put herself in Donna's shoes, imagining what it would be like to never be enough for anyone, not for your adoptive mother, not for the children who might reject you, not even for your own parents. And how all you have left is a doll.
She explains that one way people process this is by blaming themselves, because according to these people, they aren't enough, they don't deserve to be loved, that's why they aren't loved. And another way is by lashing out at people. And Donna may have done exactly that. That's why she believes Donna has created a 'family' with dolls, a family that doesn't reject her. And Angie is the lashing part of her, the part that hates people because she's sad and angry at being rejected so much. Andi believes it's Donna who's running away from Ethan, that they're killing her, and all because she wants someone to accept her. Because she wants Miranda to accept her.
Btw Andi reaction to House Beneviento is awesome, and here is her twitch.
In this interview we can find this:
When you found out you were playing Donna Beneviento, was there anything in particular that excited you the most about playing her?
"Her loneliness and isolation. I’m often cast as really tough or really quirky characters, so this was a great, and challenging, exploration for me. I identify a lot with Donna. I’ve been through debilitating fear of being seen, being judged. I’ve gone through long periods of time in isolation, obsessively reading, building things, talking to myself… It can be a painful place to live, but it’s often also a kind of a reassuring pain. Like pressing on a bruise."
It's super interesting to see how she focuses on Donna's fear of being judged, of being humiliated, of that isolation…
In another interview with the resident evil creator we know this:
Players seems to love the House Beneviento section of the game. Is this an experiment that we might see more of in future Resident Evil games (or another IP)?
First of all, it’s an honor to hear so much fanfare surrounding the game. [...]
[Ed. note: Sato declined to answer our other question about House Beneviento and its nightmare baby out of an abundance of spoiler-related caution. Its origins and inspiration will remain a mystery for now!]
Sato declined to answer, so maybe someday they will give us answer in the future. We know they know something or maybe they want to explain something, maybe in another game we will know some info, we don't know.
