Gilbert Lachance has been a voice actor for 35 years. Over the years we have heard his voice in more than 1000 films or series. But he is best known for being the voice of Johnny Depp, Matt Damon and most notably Tom Cruise, of whom he voiced almost all of his films.
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He trained as an actor, starring in series such as Chambres en ville, but Gilbert Lachance turned to dubbing and narration when the camera “avoided” him. He’s quick to admit that ever since he was very young, he’s been fond of “changing his voice.” Today he loves his job.
The first point he insists on is that actors who dub do not do so out of defiance or while waiting to act on camera, although he acknowledges that dubbing or voiceover assignments are welcome between shoots or at off-peak times, without a game contract on the horizon.
“The fact remains, we’re not doing it backwards,” Gilbert Lachance told us. We do it because we like it. And there are very good actors who dub. Think of Anne Dorval, Guy Nadon and many others. Without the dubbing, Xavier Dolan would not have existed. »
matter of emotion
Gilbert Lachance does not agree with American boxing’s argument that artificial intelligence makes it possible to preserve the artistic integrity and authenticity of the actor.
PHOTO CATHERINE LEFEBVRE, SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Gilbert Lakance
We manage to save the authenticity of the actor with our human sensitivity. Even if we don’t quite have the same tone of voice as him, we seek out the actor’s emotions thanks to our acting that passes through our voice.
Gilbert Lakance
The lyrics provide adaptors who observe the actors’ mouth movements and adjust the French lyrics according to the line length.
Thibaud de Courreges has been an adapter for 26 years. He has worked on nearly 500 films for Quebec dubbing studios. He agrees that there is always a loss in adjustment. “English is very concise while French is widely spoken, so inevitably there is a problem related to the time allotted, we sacrifice some of the meaning but we get as close to it as possible. »
However, according to him, the qualities of human-adapted texts are undeniable. “Jokes, for example, are practically impossible to translate, you have to find others that have the same meaning. The same applies to idioms, complicated words, ambiguous expressions, irony or sarcasm. These are things that protect us from robot-generated texts right now…”
question of survival
Gilbert Lachance wants the Union des Artistes (UDA) to defend its members responsible for dubbing and voice actors. “In many cases, it’s even their main source of income,” he recalls. To do nothing would be to take the bread out of our mouths,” he explains.
“If we use the original actors’ voice to dub the films, the producers have to pay them a bonus, he adds, so they make even more money. There’s a kind of uberization of the voice that I find indecent. »
Thibaud de Courreges admits that he did not feel the need to discuss these files for any length of time.
“We knew it was coming, but we realize it’s coming now. Will the work of the adapters be protected even if the actors stop dubbing? Maybe, but for how long? If the software can modify the movements of the lips according to the text, nothing prevents the producers from adding their own texts. At some point we might play an expert role…”