On September 22, Friends celebrated its 30th anniversary. Time passes but fiction forever retains its status as a cult series. While the new generation discovered it with passion on Netflix, the oldest still remember the French dubbing of their favorite characters. Among them, Maïk Darah who lent his voice to Monica Geller (Courteney Cox). It is at Brut that the VF of Rachel Greene’s best friend (Jennifer Aniston) agreed to grant an interview, lifting the veil on a profession that is still too little recognized. And as a smoker, reveals her little secret.
So are voice actors failed actors? Facing the camera, Maïk Darah retorts: “That’s not true, I would say that it’s another string to his bow to do dubbing. There are a lot of actors who do dubbing, who do theater, who do cinema, who do TV. We are not failed actors.“Because there is no shortage of preconceived ideas about this secret profession. Known to be the French voice of Monica in Friendsbut also that of Francine in American Dad!or the hyena Shenzi in The Lion Kingthe actress gives clear answers.
The VF of Monica Geller in Friends explains behind the scenes of this underexposed profession
And she is not afraid of one day being replaced by artificial intelligence. “On does not recite a text. Never in life, we embody it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a question of incarnation“, she says. As for whether dubbing actors don’t drink or smoke to preserve their voices, she laughs: “I don’t smoke and I don’t drink, let’s see!“Before confiding his little secret:”If I dub an actress, who I know in advance, has a voice a little lighter than me, I avoid smoking before, I suck ginger candies all this a little to clear my throat. But there are actors who pay attention, that’s true.“
Do they ever dub a character without knowing more about the film or series in which they appear? Yes. “three quarters of the time“, they don’t know which film or series they are going to dub. “It’s a surprise every time, it’s great“, specifies Maïk Darah. Her best surprise? “Bagdad Café, the role of Brenda“, she marvels. If she evokes this beautiful surprise, she also likes to recall to what extent they become attached to a character. “We get very attached. Monica, Courteney Cox, I love her“, she admits. As for prices, some like to say that they could sometimes be paid better than the actors. “Well, that depends on the actors and actresses. In dubbing, it’s union rates anyway. So there you have it, apart from a few exceptional cases“, responds the actress to Brut.
