Hotly discussed by fans is the choice of the voices. While some would like to see a casting specific for each part others prefer a combination they liked previously.
With a core pool of approx. 800 experienced dubbing actors in Germany, generally based in one of the three main dubbing centres of Hamburg, Munich and Berlin (in the past dialect neutral theatre actors earned some extra money during the day while appearing on stage in the evening), studios prefer to cast people locally (to keep costs down), or directors casts their favourites or the clients requests castings or certain actors. This contributes to the variety of voices in different films for the same actor.
To give some examples about the importance of voices: Dame Judi Dench who had various voices was dubbed by the Berliner actress Gisela Fritsch in the first Bond Film “Golden Eye”. From this film on she was dubbed in all but three films/series by this actress who sadly died months after completing the last Bond film. “Cranford” was dubbed in Hamburg, “Rage” was released only on DVD and was made by an studio not known for dubbing and “Iris” by another Berliner actress because of her singing skills as Mrs Fritsch told me (as she had on-going health issues, maybe just an “official” excuse) . This was the perfect match as she had the same quality of voice, always sounding a bit hoarse.
Richard Gere has been voiced since “Pretty Woman” by Hubertus Bengsch, while in several films before Lutz Riedel and Frank Glaubrecht have provided the voice. Frank Glaubrecht was in Brazil for several weeks and couldn´t do “Pretty Woman”, so Hubertus Bengsch became overnight THE Richard Gere voice. While Frank Glaubrecht had a very sexy and youthful voice like Gere, Hubertus Bengsch, had a much deeper and more mature voice than Glaubrecht (Hubertus Bengsch played in “Das Boot” Erster Wachoffizier).
This shows that the perception of most convincing combination has little to do with the similarity to the original voice. Another aspect is increased familiarity when an actor is voiced by the same German dubbing actor. In the context of the marketing of a film using a well-known combination can enhance the original actor´s market value in Germany.
When Sean Connery had a cameo in “Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves”, the casting of THE Connery voice Gert Günther Hoffmann (G.G.Hoffmann) created the same “wow-effect” from the off as in English. How much so, that when 10 years later the extended director´s cut had to be newly dubbed, the successor for the late G.G. Hoffmann who had never dubbed Connery before, failed to impress at all.
Another on-going issue is the voice casting for the English actor Benedict Cumberbatch. He has a relative deep and distinct voice, but can raise his voice significantly without losing the ability to play at this range. While into the eighties many dubbing actors with quite distinct voices were casts it became more fashionable to use more mainstream voices which are easier to replace (the few known cases of dubbing actors asking for more money has less to do with money as such but a fairer pay and recognition for their contribution). As a consequence not enough actors with outstanding voices are available when somebody with a remarkable voice has to be dubbed. While Tommy Morgenstern does an amazing job for Cumberbatch in the fast-talking “Sherlock” some people feel his voice is not special enough. Another actor was cast for “War Horse”, who also got to do “Star Trek”, in which Cumberbatch makes the most of his deep, cool voice. Although the new actor has a deeper voice than Morgenstern, he sounds strained speaking with a deep voice and this affects his acting. I have only seen some German film clips but have listened to the accompanying Star Trek audiobook “Into Darkness” and found it an unsatisfying experience. At the end of the day, the German actor has to do the performance justice and not just sound as similar as possible.
As the number of experienced dubbing actors is relative small and the dubbing of leading roles takes only a few days they often voice a lot of different actors. With the increasing number of films having more than one male or female lead this results more often in a clash. Thomas Danneberg who voiced over his career about a dozen lead actors, like Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Travolta, Aykcroyd, Dennis Quaid, Nolte, Cleese, Hauer etc. was replaced in “The Thin Red Line” for Nolte while he voiced Travolta. In the current “Escape Plan” he dubbed Stallone, while in the first trailer he dubbed both Stallone and Schwarzenegger, who is in the film dubbed by another actor.
Personally, I prefer the dubbing same voice for an actor (biopics may be exempt to serve the historical figure). It would be great if for leading actors a casting would be carried out and a once and for all a decision is be made. But this will never happen.
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