A controversial first in dubbing
Died in February 2024, Alain Dorval left his mark on French cinema by lending his voice to Sylvester Stallone in the Rocky and Rambo sagas. For the film Armor, released in March on Amazon Prime Video, his voice was recreated by artificial intelligence, thanks to a partnership between the companies Lumiere Ventures and ElevenLabs. According to a post she published on The objective? Honoring his father’s legacy while exploring the possibilities offered by new technologies.
A trailer criticized
There was no shortage of it, the initiative took a rather lame turn. The film’s trailer, released on social media, quickly sparked negative reactions. For many Internet users, the result lacks authenticity and sounds artificial. Faced with the controversy, Aurore Bergé therefore clarified her position on X (formerly Twitter): “I agreed to a test. Only a test. Nothing could be published without final validation from my mother and me.” She adds that the current broadcast was never validated, saying that her father would not have approved of this result.
Obviously all this went beyond the scope of an essay, but above all we can wonder how Aurore Bergé could consider for a single second that even giving authorization for a test could be a good thing.
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AI, a threat to dubbing?
This case rekindles a debate already well underway in the dubbing industry. In 2023, professionals in the sector mobilized to denounce the use of AI, which could, according to them, threaten their profession. The risk? That artificial voices replace human actors for reasons of cost or speed. This fear is not unfounded : during the recent strikes in Hollywood, the question of supervising AI in film productions was at the center of discussions.
Using AI to recreate the voices of deceased actors is not new. In recent years, similar technologies have made it possible to “revive” Carrie Fisher in Star Wars or Ian Holm in Alien. While some see it as a way to preserve artistic heritage, others point to a lack of respect for the deceased and blurred ethical boundaries. The case of this film Armor highlights a crucial issue: how to regulate the use of these technologies without betraying the identity of the works and their performers?
