In Red Dead Redemption 2, not all of Arthur Morgan's coughing sounds after falling ill were purely acted. Roger Clark, the actor who portrays Arthur, recently revealed that some of these sounds were real recordings made while he had a cold.
Arthur contracts tuberculosis in the mid-to-late stages of the main story, with his coughing worsening as his condition deteriorates. In an interview with IGN, Clark was asked how he performed this part and subsequently shared details about the recording process.
Clark stated that recording these lines wasn't as difficult as one might imagine. The game's development spanned five years, and segments requiring severe coughing could often be postponed. Since he caught colds multiple times during this period, he ended up with plenty of authentic cough recordings.
Whenever he caught a cold, Clark would volunteer to enter the recording studio, and the production team would agree. He even admitted that he genuinely coughed up quite a bit of phlegm at the time.
Rockstar Games released Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018. With Clark now sharing this behind-the-scenes story, players can confirm that some of the intense coughing sounds during Arthur's deteriorating condition were indeed recorded while the actor was genuinely ill.