High Speed Dubbing
December 3, 2011 2:29 AM Subscribe
When dubbing English language TV shows/movies, does the same actor voice the same actor's roles? Or does, say, Tom Cruise have a different German voice in each movie?
Inspired by this clip, which I didn't realise was German until I clicked. It got me thinking - is the Jennifer Aniston voice here the same one that we hear for her parts in the German version of Friends? I imagine it must be quite jarring to hear 'Rachel' speak differently in each show. But then again, would it be practical to have one voice actress doing all the Jennifer Aniston parts? If you regularly watch dubbed TV and the voices for a particular actor's roles are different, is it jarring to not hear them speak in 'their' voice? (Of course, if you are reading AskMe, you probably hear English well enough to listen to them in the original!)
(The only dubbed TV I've really watched are American cartoons dubbed into Spanish, where the voice work tries to match the tone of the original...but as cartoon characters don't often appear in other shows, it's not quite equivalent.)
Inspired by this clip, which I didn't realise was German until I clicked. It got me thinking - is the Jennifer Aniston voice here the same one that we hear for her parts in the German version of Friends? I imagine it must be quite jarring to hear 'Rachel' speak differently in each show. But then again, would it be practical to have one voice actress doing all the Jennifer Aniston parts? If you regularly watch dubbed TV and the voices for a particular actor's roles are different, is it jarring to not hear them speak in 'their' voice? (Of course, if you are reading AskMe, you probably hear English well enough to listen to them in the original!)
(The only dubbed TV I've really watched are American cartoons dubbed into Spanish, where the voice work tries to match the tone of the original...but as cartoon characters don't often appear in other shows, it's not quite equivalent.)
They try to be consistent with the better known actors like Tom Cruise. The woman who dubbed that 30 Rock clip wasn't the voice used in Friends but close enough that I didn't notice. What I find occasionally jarring is one German actor voicing different American ones. One guy does Tom Hanks, Bill Murray, Kevin Kline and Eric Idle.
And yes, the more original stuff I watch, the weirder the German versions become.
posted by pishposh at 3:26 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
And yes, the more original stuff I watch, the weirder the German versions become.
posted by pishposh at 3:26 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I am from Spain, where dubbing is considered an art form. Don't get me started on why I think this is insane, but people will say that a) "Spain dubs films better than any other country" (how do they know, do they speak the languages of all the other countries that dub foreign films?) and b) "Sometimes the dubbing has a better voice/acting than the original" (an ex-gf tried to persuade me that this was the case with Clint Eastwood, dubbed by the bass Constantino Romero, who by the way also does Darth Vader and TV game shows).
I haven't watched any Spanish dubbed films for a long time, but yes, they always try to use the same voiceover actor for the same original actor. A problem arises when, for instance, the same voiceover guy is identified as the voice of both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and then Heat happens. In these occasions, one of the roles is voiced by a different actor. The previous example i made up example, but I remember an acquaintance telling me that the dubbed version of film X didn't work for them because they had had to change the voice of one of the major stars, probably because they didn't want to have the same actor voicing two roles in the same film, and "he didn't sound like himself". Fair enough.
posted by kandinski at 3:36 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I haven't watched any Spanish dubbed films for a long time, but yes, they always try to use the same voiceover actor for the same original actor. A problem arises when, for instance, the same voiceover guy is identified as the voice of both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and then Heat happens. In these occasions, one of the roles is voiced by a different actor. The previous example i made up example, but I remember an acquaintance telling me that the dubbed version of film X didn't work for them because they had had to change the voice of one of the major stars, probably because they didn't want to have the same actor voicing two roles in the same film, and "he didn't sound like himself". Fair enough.
posted by kandinski at 3:36 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's often the same actor/actress voices the same big name English actor/actress across TV and movie roles, but not always. There are often two actors who do the overdubbing, and they always do overdubbing for multiple English actors. For example, Jennifer Aniston is voiced (exclusively? nearly exclusively?) by Ulrike Stürzbecher, and David Nathan does a lot, but not all, of Johnny Depp's roles - sometimes Marcus Off does them.
Personally, I blame overdubbing for why most Germans speak terrible English. The Dutch, with their subtitles, have a much better approach.
posted by cmonkey at 3:37 AM on December 3, 2011
Personally, I blame overdubbing for why most Germans speak terrible English. The Dutch, with their subtitles, have a much better approach.
posted by cmonkey at 3:37 AM on December 3, 2011
Japan has official voice actors for different actors. For example, Johnny Depp is always dubbed by Hiroaki Hirata. But it's not an exclusive deal - other actors on Hirata's resume include Ewan McGregor and Matt Damon, plus a whole lot of anime characters.
The result can be rather amusing, if you're sensitive to voices, and keep hearing one character playing another instead of allowing yourself to accept it as just plain dubbing.
Another thing I know happens sometimes in Japan is that an actor gets to dub the same character. For example, it might be because Toshiyuki Morikawa (who, in an aside, has also dubbed Ewan McGregor) dubbed Jude Law's Doctor Watson in the Guy Richie Sherlock Holmes movie that he also got to dub Martin Freeman's John Watson in the BBC's Sherlock production.
In short, I think that for Japanese, the answer might be "sort of".
posted by harujion at 4:08 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
The result can be rather amusing, if you're sensitive to voices, and keep hearing one character playing another instead of allowing yourself to accept it as just plain dubbing.
Another thing I know happens sometimes in Japan is that an actor gets to dub the same character. For example, it might be because Toshiyuki Morikawa (who, in an aside, has also dubbed Ewan McGregor) dubbed Jude Law's Doctor Watson in the Guy Richie Sherlock Holmes movie that he also got to dub Martin Freeman's John Watson in the BBC's Sherlock production.
In short, I think that for Japanese, the answer might be "sort of".
posted by harujion at 4:08 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Sometimes the dubbing has a better voice/acting than the original"
Actually, this sometimes happens with text translation, when highly-skilled translators are hired to translate bestsellers by writers who perhaps have less of an ear for prose than the translator does. The translator does the best job he/she can, and the translated work then turns out to just have better-quality prose than the original. (I'm not at all a fan of the Wheel of Time series, and have only read 2 chapters of the first one before giving up, so I can't judge for myself, but I've heard this said about the German translations of the books several times, for example.)
I'd be surprised if this didn't happen at least occasionally with overdubbing, when a skilled voice actor is hired to dub a performance by a less-talented Hollywood star, but I've never heard specific examples mentioned.
posted by Wylla at 4:51 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Actually, this sometimes happens with text translation, when highly-skilled translators are hired to translate bestsellers by writers who perhaps have less of an ear for prose than the translator does. The translator does the best job he/she can, and the translated work then turns out to just have better-quality prose than the original. (I'm not at all a fan of the Wheel of Time series, and have only read 2 chapters of the first one before giving up, so I can't judge for myself, but I've heard this said about the German translations of the books several times, for example.)
I'd be surprised if this didn't happen at least occasionally with overdubbing, when a skilled voice actor is hired to dub a performance by a less-talented Hollywood star, but I've never heard specific examples mentioned.
posted by Wylla at 4:51 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
In Italy it's more often not always the same actor. So audiences are accustomed to the same voice for an actor and it is therefore a little odd when changes from movie to movie. I believe that the dubber's voice is often approved by the star.
I remember when Heat (1995) starring Pacino and De Niro came out. The same actor, Ferruccio Amendola, previously dubbed both of them so another actor, Giancarlo Giannini, took on Pacino. When Ferruccio died in 2001, it obviously meant De Niro's familiar voice would be changed forever for Italians. Here's a Chicago Tribune obituary on Amendola that is worth a read. It also explains how he once dubbed Stallone and De Niro in the same movie.
As an aside, all English language (maybe all international) movies in Italy have to be available dubbed before they can be released at the cinema (i.e. you can't go any watch a movie in its original language there until the Italian dubbed movie is released also).
Interesting that in Spain, as explained by kandinski, the Spanish consider themselves to be the best dubbers. I always had that impression that the Italians thought exactly the same of themselves.
posted by NailsTheCat at 7:16 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I remember when Heat (1995) starring Pacino and De Niro came out. The same actor, Ferruccio Amendola, previously dubbed both of them so another actor, Giancarlo Giannini, took on Pacino. When Ferruccio died in 2001, it obviously meant De Niro's familiar voice would be changed forever for Italians. Here's a Chicago Tribune obituary on Amendola that is worth a read. It also explains how he once dubbed Stallone and De Niro in the same movie.
As an aside, all English language (maybe all international) movies in Italy have to be available dubbed before they can be released at the cinema (i.e. you can't go any watch a movie in its original language there until the Italian dubbed movie is released also).
Interesting that in Spain, as explained by kandinski, the Spanish consider themselves to be the best dubbers. I always had that impression that the Italians thought exactly the same of themselves.
posted by NailsTheCat at 7:16 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
If I were an actor, I would make sure my contract stated that I had control over who dubs me. I might not care if the same person was used across different projects, but I would care that the voice matched the character I was playing. (I would probably want to do the dubbing myself, but that's my latent acting ego coming out...)
(Insert unnecessary plug for What's up, Tigerlilly? here.)
posted by gjc at 7:25 AM on December 3, 2011
(Insert unnecessary plug for What's up, Tigerlilly? here.)
posted by gjc at 7:25 AM on December 3, 2011
According the imdb,French actor Ivan Attal dubbed Tom Cruise's voice in the French versions of four of his major movies.
posted by la petite marie at 7:41 AM on December 3, 2011
posted by la petite marie at 7:41 AM on December 3, 2011
> What I find occasionally jarring is one German actor voicing different American ones.
I’d like to add that it can be incredibly frustrating to spend half a movie trying to figure out where you have heard a character’s voice before.
posted by wachhundfisch at 8:21 AM on December 3, 2011
I’d like to add that it can be incredibly frustrating to spend half a movie trying to figure out where you have heard a character’s voice before.
posted by wachhundfisch at 8:21 AM on December 3, 2011
I'm not sure if this was exclusive, but the NY experimental theater pioneer Ruth Maleczech was the voice for Catherine Deneuve.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:23 AM on December 3, 2011
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:23 AM on December 3, 2011
A second hand story:
Sitting in a restaurant in Spain, we notice that other diners are intrigued by a table in the corner. While we're not completely in limbo with Spanish cultural figures, we don't recognise anyone eating there so the next time the waiter comes to us we ask "Who's that over there?"
The waiter looks at us and smiles... "El voz de Bond..." he answers triumphantly.
posted by benzo8 at 9:30 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sitting in a restaurant in Spain, we notice that other diners are intrigued by a table in the corner. While we're not completely in limbo with Spanish cultural figures, we don't recognise anyone eating there so the next time the waiter comes to us we ask "Who's that over there?"
The waiter looks at us and smiles... "El voz de Bond..." he answers triumphantly.
posted by benzo8 at 9:30 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Here's a pretty definitive Italian voice actor resource; WARNING: probably one of the ugliest sites ever.
It's maintained by an obsessive/completist cataloguer of professional voice actors, listing practically all the roles any dubber ever did (unfortunately - at least as far as I can tell - it has no reverse look-up function, so as to search by the original actor being dubbed).
posted by progosk at 1:54 PM on December 3, 2011
It's maintained by an obsessive/completist cataloguer of professional voice actors, listing practically all the roles any dubber ever did (unfortunately - at least as far as I can tell - it has no reverse look-up function, so as to search by the original actor being dubbed).
posted by progosk at 1:54 PM on December 3, 2011
In the opposite direction (Europe->US), I've seen at least one movie where it was really obvious that multiple characters in the SAME movie were dubbed with the same English speaker. This is pretty awful.
I'm always impressed when the same actor dubs himself in a movie - this seems to be more common for English->Spanish dubs - like Antonio Banderas.
posted by secondlife at 5:06 PM on December 3, 2011
I'm always impressed when the same actor dubs himself in a movie - this seems to be more common for English->Spanish dubs - like Antonio Banderas.
posted by secondlife at 5:06 PM on December 3, 2011
This happens sometimes in Mexico. Of the top of my head, Will Smith is always dubbed by the same actor, from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air to his recent movies.
The voice actors are associated with certain dubbing houses, so the choice of voices depends on many factors, including which TV chain purchased the rights to the movie or series, if it will be also broadcast in Central or South America, etc.
... sometimes in Japan is that an actor gets to dub the same character
This is also true in Mexico. There was a huge uproar when the Simpsons' voice actors were changed after the 15th season, as there were some contract/union problems.
posted by clearlydemon at 9:24 PM on December 3, 2011
The voice actors are associated with certain dubbing houses, so the choice of voices depends on many factors, including which TV chain purchased the rights to the movie or series, if it will be also broadcast in Central or South America, etc.
... sometimes in Japan is that an actor gets to dub the same character
This is also true in Mexico. There was a huge uproar when the Simpsons' voice actors were changed after the 15th season, as there were some contract/union problems.
posted by clearlydemon at 9:24 PM on December 3, 2011
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posted by epo at 2:59 AM on December 3, 2011 [1 favorite]