Do women do voiceovers for movie trailers?

October 25, 2007 4:03 PM

Why can't I think of any movie trailers narrated by women?

It's something I've never paid attention to before, but are about all movie trailers (with narration) narrated by men? If so, is there a particular reason for this in terms of marketing/PR/subliminality/trust/whatever?

Also, I'm curious whether there is a clear breakdown in what kinds of commercials are narrated by men versus those narrated by women. Some are probably obvious, for those products used primarily by one sex over the other.

posted by troybob to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

The trailer for Lord of the Rings was Kate Blanchett's voiceover as Galadriel. But you're right that it's vanishingly rare.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:06 PM on October 25, 2007

wasn't there a VO from linda hamilton for terminator 2?
posted by patricking at 4:11 PM on October 25, 2007

Here's many. Click on the Charlee Redman link for example.
posted by vacapinta at 4:12 PM on October 25, 2007

In terms of mainstream Hollywood movies, there probably aren't that many, as there are only about five main voice over guys that do all the movies, each with their own specialties.
posted by sharkfu at 4:26 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

The teaser for Resident Evil Apocalypse was a good one.
posted by cmgonzalez at 4:32 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

Panic Room teaser trailer had a female voice.
posted by infinitewindow at 4:49 PM on October 25, 2007

I actually think there is one guy that does most of them (or at least that's how it used to be.) His name is Don LaFontaine
posted by emilyv at 5:52 PM on October 25, 2007

Panic Room also came to mind for me.
posted by dobbs at 6:16 PM on October 25, 2007

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
posted by McSly at 6:33 PM on October 25, 2007

I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills...
posted by Neiltupper at 8:00 PM on October 25, 2007

I've read some research papers about a similar question, and what they found was that the commercials aimed at boys all had male voiceovers, the commercials aimed at boys and girls all had male voiceovers, and the commercials aimed at girls could have either male or female voiceovers. These were children's toy commercials, though, so it might not be the same for movies.

Basically, the idea was that advertisers are afraid that boys won't buy something associated with girls.
posted by meadowlands at 10:53 PM on October 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

The U.S. trailer for My 20th Century had a female voiceover.
posted by gluechunk at 11:55 PM on October 25, 2007

Kinda off topic, but years ago I went on a few dates with a guy who was directly related to Don LaFontaine. He had a very similar voice and it always kinda weirded me out. He always made ordering dinner sound so incredibly dramatic and suspenseful...
posted by miss lynnster at 2:23 AM on October 26, 2007 [3 favorites]