The Disembodied Voice will be in her Trailer...
July 30, 2019 2:23 PM Subscribe
For movies such as MOON and HER, where the second lead is an entirely disembodied Voice, how did the Director handle the production side of it where the other lead's performance was concerned?
(And yes I know about Samantha Morton being vocally-replaced by ScarJo after production was over-- but how was Samantha's work recorded then with regards to shooting Joaquin's scenes?)
In general, does the Director have a stand-in read for the part during production so the actor can have someone to play against? Or is the Voice part pre-recorded in a studio before production and played over speaker for the lead actor to interact with during his scenes? Or was (Kevin Spacey for example) actually on set reading his lines off-camera in order to help Sam Rockwell's performance?
It seems like the latter would be prohibitively expensive re: the number of shooting days for a big star, who could otherwise record his or her scenes in just a couple days at a recording studio.
I would love any info on the process, for these and for similar movies -- thanks!
(And yes I know about Samantha Morton being vocally-replaced by ScarJo after production was over-- but how was Samantha's work recorded then with regards to shooting Joaquin's scenes?)
In general, does the Director have a stand-in read for the part during production so the actor can have someone to play against? Or is the Voice part pre-recorded in a studio before production and played over speaker for the lead actor to interact with during his scenes? Or was (Kevin Spacey for example) actually on set reading his lines off-camera in order to help Sam Rockwell's performance?
It seems like the latter would be prohibitively expensive re: the number of shooting days for a big star, who could otherwise record his or her scenes in just a couple days at a recording studio.
I would love any info on the process, for these and for similar movies -- thanks!
Best answer: For Moon, this interview with Sam Rockwell sheds some light:
Were you able to ad-lib because you were alone, or did you stick to the script?
The first [take] that you’d shoot you’d have more room for improvisation. The second one you’d have to get it within the window of time–you had a space of time for your line. I could change the ad-libs as long as they fit the same amounts of beats. You could ad-lib but you had to be very clever about it, otherwise it wouldn’t work.
This seems to suggest that none of your guesses are right and nobody was playing the robot (GERTY) at all on set - they just left pauses for its dialogue.
I found another interview which said they actually shot Sam Rockwell's scenes before they ever cast the GERTY role.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:33 PM on July 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
Were you able to ad-lib because you were alone, or did you stick to the script?
The first [take] that you’d shoot you’d have more room for improvisation. The second one you’d have to get it within the window of time–you had a space of time for your line. I could change the ad-libs as long as they fit the same amounts of beats. You could ad-lib but you had to be very clever about it, otherwise it wouldn’t work.
This seems to suggest that none of your guesses are right and nobody was playing the robot (GERTY) at all on set - they just left pauses for its dialogue.
I found another interview which said they actually shot Sam Rockwell's scenes before they ever cast the GERTY role.
posted by showbiz_liz at 2:33 PM on July 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
Best answer: From a Vulture article on Her:
Rather than prerecord the dialogue, he has decided to have Morton on set, performing her voice-only role with Phoenix in real time whenever possible. “I always knew they would have to be together, from the time we were writing it,” he says.
For her part, Morton has taken the assignment to play a heard-but-not-seen character seriously. She has spent much of her time hidden away in a four-by-four carpeted soundproof booth made of black painted plywood and soft, noise-muffling fabric.
Some of the different strategies I suspect have to do with the budgets and natures of the production. Her's budget was five times bigger than Moon's, and Samantha Morton is a lot cheaper than Kevin Spacey.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 3:55 PM on July 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
Rather than prerecord the dialogue, he has decided to have Morton on set, performing her voice-only role with Phoenix in real time whenever possible. “I always knew they would have to be together, from the time we were writing it,” he says.
For her part, Morton has taken the assignment to play a heard-but-not-seen character seriously. She has spent much of her time hidden away in a four-by-four carpeted soundproof booth made of black painted plywood and soft, noise-muffling fabric.
Some of the different strategies I suspect have to do with the budgets and natures of the production. Her's budget was five times bigger than Moon's, and Samantha Morton is a lot cheaper than Kevin Spacey.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 3:55 PM on July 30, 2019 [3 favorites]
Best answer: The Story of a Voice: HAL in ‘2001’ Wasn’t Always So Eerily Calm (NYT)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:30 PM on July 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:30 PM on July 30, 2019 [1 favorite]
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