Space-obsessed Pragmata actor was so wary of breaking embargo that he refused to post about Artemis 2: 'I know so much about the f**king moon'

Pragmata Red Zone Gate Keys: Hugh and Diana looking towards the camera. — (Image credit: Capcom)

Videogames love pitting players against the moon or otherwise convincing them it's a big problem, and while I loved Pragmata, it only saddled me with more lunar trauma. David Menkin, the actor who played protagonist Hugh, has always loved the big grey rock, but as he mentioned in an interview with Polygon, he had to keep his excitement for the recent Artemis 2 mission under wraps while he was working on Capcom's shooter.

It's not that the embargo specifically forbade him from talking about the moon, but he wanted to post about the coincidence that Artemis 2 and Pragmata's release date were so close together. The full suite of embargoes and restrictions was such a tangle, and Menkin is such a self-described "bad liar," that he felt he had to "fully boot down" so as to not let slip any top secret info.

“I didn't want anyone from Capcom to be like, ‘Excuse me, is that a picture of the moon or is that a picture of our moon?’” he told Polygon.

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The article points out that Menkin has a lot of experience playing a spacefarer, whether it's Luke Skywalker in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga or Neil Armstrong, who he's played in both a short film called Moths to Flame and an audio series about Buzz Aldrin. “I've done all the famous quotes, Neil's famous quotes … I know so much about the fucking moon,” he said. "My entire career has been around the moon."

While Saif got ahead of him in recordings at one point, Menkin said he "made sure" he never quite caught up so "he could hear her amazing performance at all times.” While he told Polygon it was sort of like playing opposite a CGI character in a live action film, he commended everyone involved for making it work.

“I have zero transferable skills. All I can do is act … Thank God there are all these people making sure I can feel safe enough to do my job and then at the end it all comes together and it works.”

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Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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