It was a clash of the titans. In one corner was Ben Schwartz, the star of the new film Sonic the Hedgehog, perhaps the world’s foremost authority on the character. In the other was The Hollywood Reporter gaming editor Patrick Shanley, whose job is to be knowledgeable on all things gaming. They gathered at THR‘s offices on Monday to take each other on in 1992’s Sonic The Hedgehog 2 — with the added challenge of conducting an interview at the same time.
Like a video game, the interview started out easy. What games did Schwartz play as a kid? What did he think of the Sonic movie’s famous redesign? What was his favorite line he wrote for C3P-0 in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker?
As the competition heated up in the game, so, too, did the questions, with the conversation taking a truly strange turn, touching on what exists on the edge of the universe, and concluding with an exploration of one of Christopher Nolan’s most enigmatic movies.
“You’re doing great by the way. No one would ever know this is your first interview,” Schwartz jokes at one point.
Watch the episode of Heat Vision Breakdown at the top of the post, and check out previous episodes — including a Mortal Kombat reunion 24 years in the making — here.
Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog, from director Jeff Fowler, is in theaters now.
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