Huang Xiaoming Dubs for Chinese Release of “The Croods”

The Croods, an adventure comedy film by DreamWorks Animation, will open in theaters in China on April 20. Mainland Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming (黃曉明) was selected to provide the voice for the male lead, a nomadic caveboy named Guy.

With the English-language release of The Croods boasting the voices of Hollywood celebrities like Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds, DreamWorks hoped for similar star power in the Chinese-language release. As one of China’s most well-known actors, Huang Xiaoming was a natural choice. This will be his first time dubbing a voice for an animated film.

Although he is still recovering from a foot injury sustained in November of last year, Xiaoming was eager to take on the challenge. To prepare for the role, he rewatched a few of DreamWorks’ other movies, paying careful attention to the characters’ unique traits and the communication styles of English-language speakers.

“The biggest difference between the speech of foreigners and the Chinese is that [foreigners] have a lot of interjections, as well as strange sounds,” Xiaoming said. Nevertheless, he shared that many people have told him that his voice is well suited for “wacky behavior,” leading him to joke that he should have entered the sphere of animated film dubbing earlier.

Despite being a novice at dubbing, Xiaoming did not find portraying an animated character very difficult and thought the process was rather fun. “I’m still a little childish at heart,” he said, “so interpreting an animated character was not hard for me.”

What did pose a challenge was the swift tempo that is characteristic of animated movies. “You must keep your eyes on every small movement that your character makes,” Xiaoming shared, “and then you must make a response with your voice and your tone. The tempo of the speech is very fast, and it’s easy to fall behind.” Luckily, he was accompanied by a professional dubbing coach, whom Xiaoming thanks for allowing the process to go smoothly.

When asked if he prefers acting or voice dubbing, Xiaoming replied, “Acting is my life. Voice dubbing is a job. If there’s another good role in the future, I will continue doing voice dubbing for animated films. On a certain level, these two jobs complement each other.”

Source: Sohu.com

This article is written by Joanna for JayneStars.com.