This remake of " Abre los Ojos " will be released shortly, and with Penelope Cruz doing another English language film opposite her new beau, Tom Cruise, her continued success is assured. The one element of this that intrigues me is whether Cruz will dub her English speaking part into Spanish for its release in Spain. It would sound somewhat odd to hear another Spanish actress's voice eminating from Cruz's mouth. Incidently, do most English language films that are dubbed into Spanish prepare different Spanish language versions for most of the neraly 20 Spanish speaking nations?

Are most English language films dubbed into all of the regional languages- Catalan, Galacian, Basque, as well as Castillian? Additionaly, are Castillian language films required to be available in Catalan, Basque, or Galacian?

BTW, What will the title for " Vanilla Sky " be in Spanish, "Cielo de Vanilla" or "Abre los Ojos" once again?

"The Balcony is Closed",
Shawn


[ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: Shawn ]

[ 11-23-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

Shawn, I know that those films shown on TVE1 and La Dos are in castellano pure and simple. However, when TVG and ETB-1 or 2 get their hands on a film, you'll many times either see it dubbed in the regional language or at least subtitled in that language. I don´t have any experience with the Catalán stations, but I´m sure it´s the same there.

One thing I did notice was that usually, great care is taken to get the same voice-over personality to dub the same actor/actress in all the movies he/she does. A small detail, but makes sense. Also, I remember going to the VO with Spanish friends who had seen a number of movies with, I think it was Schwarzenegger, but never a VO. When they heard how he really talks, they cackled! Of course, hearing his Spanish counterpart brought the same reaction from me the first time!

I don't know if Penélope is dubbing herself, but I hope she is not as bad as Antonio Banderas is when dubbing. Some people have even beg to Antonio to stop dubbing himself and to let a proffessional dubbing actor do the job. Dubbing a film is not as easy as it could seems. Remember that actors have to act with their voices only. They don't have anything else.

All dubbed English language films we see in Spain has been dubbed in Spain. I think some Spanish speaking countries don't even dub films. They just show them in original version with Spanish subtitles. In Mexico I think they do their own dubbing but I'm not sure.

As for films in the other official languages in Spain, they are not required to be dubbed but local governments encourage - and even pay to have them dubbed.

In the last few weeks there has been a big controversial about Warner's decission not to dubbed Harry Potter into Catalan, even though the local government is willing to pay for it.

As for the titles, in Spain they don't translate them. They adapt them. Therefore, sometimes the title is the literal translation, sometimes it has nothing to do and sometimes they even keep the same title.

Take for instance, "Green card". That title doesn't make sense in Spanish because people wouldn't have understood what "green card" meant. Instead of that, they adapted it as "Matrimonio de conveniencia" (convenience marriage) which tell us better what the film is about.

Antonio,

I couldn't agree more about your tocayo(A. Banderas). In my opinion he's not a good actor, in English is even worse, but when he dubbs himself he's pathetic. Sorry!

Here many movie titles are totally changed indeed. Some remain the same, and this is happening more and more often, examples: Ghost, Seven, Eyes Wide Shut, Traffic, Glitter, Jeepers Creepers, Vanilla Sky(it won't be translated), etc....

[ 11-24-2001: Message edited by: pim ]

"Paella to Pot Roast", was the headline to the Los Angeles Times review of Vanilla Sky. I would have to agree. Vanilla Sky lacked the rich flavours and succulent "gambas" that Abre Los Ojos delivered, instead viewers were treated to a rather meat and potatoes undertaking. Now, pot roast at its best is hearty meal; however, it is best savoured when the gristle is removed before serving.

While elements of the remake were visualy appealing (e.g. Penelope Cruz) the denouement resembled The Matrix more than the thought provking original. The Twin Towers ,visible in the background, did add a macabre feel to the film's cloudy conclusion. Vanilla Sky elected to confuse the central theme of vanity with topics drawn from contemporary bioethics.

Tom Cruise desrves credit for discovering the orginal Spanish film and for supporting Amenabar's career. However, Vanilla Sky has become a very expensive trailer for Abre Los Ojos, one can only hope that film viewers will be motivated to rent the original and to enjoy Spanish cinema.

[ 12-16-2001: Message edited by: Shawn ]