L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 11, 2015 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano ITALIAN SECTION | Italian dubbing of foreign films is known to be the best in the industry. Dubbing started on the tail end of World War II, quickly becoming standard prac- tice. Over the years it has beco- me more than a tradition; not just a translation, nor an interpreta- tion, it's a real performance that matches the acting of Hollywood stars. In the seventies and eigh- ties Italian voice actors were so good that their work was often praised by the director of the ori- ginal movie. The most famous example is that of Stanley Kubrick, known for s upervis ing every s ingle aspect of his films, who went on record with his appreciation of the Italian voice for HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey and that of Giancarlo Giannini in The Shining. In recent years there's been a dramatic drop in the qua- lity, partially due to bidding wars (emerging companies offering to do the job for less), less time dedicated to the work, and studio interference. This goes hand in hand with new generations fal- ling out of love with dubbing, because of a better knowledge of the English language and easier access to the original version thanks to DVD and satellite TV. It would seem only a local mat- ter, not accordingly to talented up and coming director Jordan Ledy, who decided to take a clo- ser look at the world of dubbing in Italy with his film It's better in Italian. I met with Jordan to find out what fascinated him so much to the point of making a documentary about it. "I was an American student at Columbia University, I had done a study abroad program in Florence and that was really where I fell in love with Italian culture. I was there for seven months, living with a homestay family. They had two sons, one of them was just one year younger than me; they didn't speak English and I spoke only a bit of Italian, more than I could understand. I'm an extrovert; I couldn't just sit at the table and not have a conversa- tion. I ate dinner with them every night and they would always have the TV on. It would be an Italian s how like Str is cia la Notizia and every now and then I would look over and it was a hospital procedure or law and order type show. After one minu- te watching I realized it is the A merican s how ! It is H ugh Laurie and he's speaking Italian! I had assumed, as an American, everyone watches films with subtitles and the only things that are dubbed are Bruce Lee films. I had a closed view of the world, I was 21 years old and I had lived in New York pretty much exclusively my entire life." While getting his mas ter degree in production at USC, Ledy took a documentary class with award winning Amanda Pope and thought of the Italian dubbers as the perfect topic for his film. "I pitched the idea showing some clips of Tonino Accolla doing Eddie Murphy. He was the one who really inspi- red me to do this project. I heard stories of him walking in any bar and laugh like Eddie Murphy and people would buy him a glass of wine. A lot of American students got as excited as I was. I then connected to Massimo Sarti, who at the time worked at the Italian Institute, through somebody at USC; he connected me to Luciano Palermi, who lives here in Los Angeles and dubs in flight entertainment. Through him I got to Roberto Pedicini." Pedicini is a legend among Italian Dubbers, having provided the voice to a variety of Hollywood stars. When Ledy met with him, they hit it off immediately. It became apparent P edicini w ould be the firs t subject of his film, "He saw an American who spoke Italian and his reaction was - come to my hous e I'll make pas ta!" Contacting some of the other people s eemed odd at firs t, "Here it was this American kid coming to Italy to make a movie about dubbing;" Sandro Acerbo accepted because Pedicini vou- ched for him, Pino Colizzi thou- ght that Ledy and his crew were journalists. "We thought we were really a small production. We didn't have big cameras and w e only had few lights . I remember saying, 'can you give us forty minutes to set up the lights?' and the answer was, 'why? Just turn the switch on'. By the second week when I cal- led [the response would be], 'Jordan! The American director! I hear you are really professio- nal; I'm ready for this inter- view." It's better in Italian is infor- mative and entertaining, it gets right into it after a brief intro- duction by Peter Weller, and covers all aspects of this fascina- ting profession. It tells a story for each of the people being interviewed, with a beginning, a middle, and end. This is rare in documentaries, which tend to just tell the facts; Ledy's doc is very cinematic. He also chooses his s ubjects w is ely to keep things fres h and engaging, there's the veteran (Pedicini), the new generation (Davide Perino), and the student trying to book his first job (Ugo De Cesare). "I knew I didn't want to make a film that was only a list of facts. It would have been only for peo- ple who are interested; I wanted Italians to enjoy it but als o Americans to enjoy it. The first step was getting our characters' story, and get people to watch. If I tell an audience, come see a movie about Italian dubbing and I don't s ee S amuel J acks on speaking Italian, I'm gonna be upset. The work these people do! We are making a movie about people behind the scenes, when the lights are turned off. I wan- ted them to look like rockstars, because they don't get to be usually." The director is also particularly good at hinting at many of the problems (the state of the economy, the drop in qua- lity, the studios protecting their investment which translates into limiting the freedom of the lan- guage adaptation), without dwel- ling too much into it. A fter fes tivals in S anta Barbara and Nashville, Jordan is ready to bring his film back to w here it all s tarted. H e's applying to film festivals in Turin, Rome and he's eyeing Venice. It would make a great sell to Italian TV, "I'd love to have it on Italian TV. It's fun w atching it w ith different audiences. Every time a clip of Robert De Niro dubbed comes up American audiences burst up laughing whereas for Italians is normal. The Italian audience lau- ghs at different things. I think the American perspective on Italian culture really gave me an advantage because if I was an Italian filmmaker meeting the dubbers they may be less excited to do it. There was something about, 'it's an outsider who is really interested'. There was uni- quenes s to our production, which everybody found intere- sting." MICHAEL TRAVERSA Roberto Pedicini A moment during the production of "It's better in Italian" It's better in Italian. An American perspective on the Italian industry of dubbing

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