When growing up I, like probably most children, watched quite a lot of TV. Most of the cartoons weren’t in Dutch, but in English (and I sometimes watch German tv as well). Thanks to those English cartoons I could pick up on a lot when I finally got English lessons at school. Through the years that has changed and now most of the entertainment aimed at children (both on TV/VOD and in the cinema) has been dubbed. It is something I’m not a fan of, because it will take children longer to learn a foreign language. Luckily there are schools who start with English lessons as soon as the kids join the school, but I think entertainment could add something extra. So slowly dubbing has become the norm in the Netherlands. In other countries though, like Italy, France or Germany that has been the case for ages. This documentary, Being George Clooney, mainly focusses on voice actors who play the role of George Clooney in various countries, including Turkey, India, Brazil, Germany, Italy and France.
These various actors talk about their trade and how they bring the performance to life even though they never actually met the actor. Often their voice are so intertwined with the appearance of the actor that when another actor takes over the viewing audience starts to complain (which happened in Germany). This was also the case when Robert De Niro decided to do the Italian speaking part for The Godfather 2 himself. The Italian audience didn’t think he sounded like De Niro. The title of this documentary isn’t completely accurate as various actresses are shown as well, like the voice of Scarlett Johansson in Germany. It’s clear that voice actors aren’t always fully appreciated in each country. In Italy they are invited to TV shows and they enjoy popularity, but in other countries they have to fight for their rights. There is a voice actor in Germany who went to court against Disney because he felt he needed to get paid more according to German law. Whether he wins or loses the case isn’t really relevant anymore, because of his action he’s been blacklisted at both Disney and the biggest German voice acting agency.
Being George Clooney show you a bit more about the world of dubbing and the background of the voice actors themselves, but doesn’t spend enough time looking at the issues they face and lacks depth. The history of this job is only mentioned shortly and the whole process of dubbing is quickly looked at. If you are looking for a film about voice actors, I think I Know That Voice is a better choice.
Hadn’t heard of this but it looks quite interesting. I remember reading a piece in a newspaper here about how some voice actors’ careers are in the hands of their Hollywood counterparts, and that if they do well, everyone does well. Hadn’t thought about it before.
The example they used was the German Bruce Willis, who’s made a good living, but also uses his recognisable voice in radio and TV adverts for kitchens and things. As an English speaker, this blew my mind!
Over here it was available through Netflix, so don’t know if this is also available at your end. Worth a watch though although I liked the other documentary about this work more…