A historic event at the Venice Film Festival, when, at the Lido, one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors, Richard Gere, met his Italian alter ego, the Catanian voice actor Mario Cordovawith him as the protagonist of an interesting masterclass in the new Match Point Arena of the Tennis Club Venezia. Lots of irony and good humor between the two, immediately engaged in a hilarious exchange – moderated by Stéphan Lerouge, curator of the collection “Ecoutez le cinéma!” – which did not undermine the seriousness and professionalism with which Cordova, Gere’s voice from the film “Dirty Business” (1990), spoke about dubbing.
Casual and elegant in his navy blue suit and pale blue shirt, Gere tells Cordova “You have a better voice than me!”and the voice actor draws inspiration from this to refer to the special relationship that is established with the character: a deep, even emotional contact. «I know every inch of his skin» he states pleasantly, but immediately after clarifies: «Not everything obviously… Let’s say everything about the face which is an expression of the soul: I know his way of looking, turning, certain eye movements that he makes and they are extraordinary. It’s like entering his body, his eyes, his voice. This is what the voice actor does: taking the actor’s face and putting it on himself. If I knew how to draw I would draw him without a care in the world». An appreciation, that of Gere, reiterated after a clip with two scenes from “Sommersby” (1993), one original and the other dubbed: «Okay, you’re better».
We then get to the heart of the masterclass with Cordova, who reveals some tricks of the trade. “We all have multiple voices,” he explains, “we have many, many, which change if you use your nose or throat, going down or up. But for the magic of dubbing to happen, the right context must be set up: the dubbing room. A cult place, almost sacred, acoustically isolated, where the voice actor is alone with his artist, without interference that could disturb the contact and the almost fusion with his person. They say the best dubbing is the one that disappears into the screen,” adds Cordova, “because it is so much in the face and body of the person who says the line that you forget there is another voice.” A magic that also concerns the viewer: “There is a sort of implicit pact: you go to see a film by an American actor and when he opens his mouth he speaks in Italian and it seems the most natural thing in the world. If we think about it, it’s absurd: the line was said in another part of the world, and maybe two months later that same line is recited in Italian. Everything is done afterwards; and it’s a very strange thing that some people don’t like, because it’s an abuse, in the sense of “doing it over”. In this sense, we can go so far as to say that dubbing is bad, but it has spread American cinema in Italy».
Closing in style with the focus on “The Invisibles” (2014), a fictional film shot in a documentary style, in which Gere plays a tramp. Cordova asks him if it is true that a woman, mistaking him for a homeless person, gave him ten dollars. Gere specifies that the woman gave him food and this news went around the world. «Behind this film there is also the man – the voice actor emphasized – A truly profound person, capable of moving from the image of a sex symbol to such a touching role».
