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Roberto Chevalier

Roberto Chevalier is an actor, voice-actor, dubbing director and dialogist.

[ This interview is available in Italian and English ]

Roberto Chevalier is an actor, voice-actor, dubbing director and dialogist.

Enfant prodige, he has been an actor since the age of 5, working in the film industry, television and theater.
He dubs the greatest actors from around the World. He is the official Italian voice of Tom Cruise (requested by the American actor himself and by the Italian audience) and of Tom Hanks. Along the extensive list, he has given his voice to Andy Garcìa, Dennis Quaid, John Travolta and Kurt Russell. His touching interpretation of Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Truman Capote” (2006), will always be remembered.
Among the many awards received during his career, he has won two Nastri d’Argento, for his performance of Eric Bogosian in “Talk Radio” (1990) and of Tom Cruise in Magnolia (2000).

LC: When I think of a handbag, my goal is to express the style and the elegance of Italian culture.

Signor Chevalier, besides your beautiful voice and your acting talent, you have the help of enlightened elegance of the Italian language. How much this factor can enhance the original acting of the movie?

RC: Indeed, the enlightened elegance of Italian language can contribute to the success of the movie. Particularly, nowadays only voice-actors are among the few people that speak proper Italian, since the national film industry has been introducing slang more and more. Nevertheless, voice-actors do not use a dead language. They speak the real Italian language, the one with correct phrasing and wording, the one that is well spoken. This gives importance to our beautiful language, which makes our job still nice and pleasant.

LC: Frequently, in the fashion system, video productions adopt music as the sole audio support to the storytelling. For this video, I believed it was important to add a voice-over.

How can a video such this one emotionally engage the audience?

RC: The key to emotionally engage the audience is the video itself. It is all about the magic that you have brought with these scenes, with these handbags. Perhaps, my voice has contributed too. We all know that the right voice can well present a product. At the same time the product and the crafting speak for themself. Therefore, you are definitively going to reach success and I hope to contribute to it as well.

LC: The character you have dubbed in Collateral shows a firm, but also calm performance; at the contrary the main character in Magnolia acts mostly out of the line.

Which of the two styles was the most rewarding to you to interpret?

RC: I have no doubts. Magnolia was much more rewarding because he was such a hard character, so particular. Tom Cruise was great in it. As a matter of fact, he won the Nastro d’Argento for Life Time Achievement in Taormina in 2000 and I won the Nastro d’Argento for Voice-acting in the same edition. In that venue we presented together the first Mission Impossible movie.Magnolia was an extraordinary motion picture.

LC: Among the great actors, from the past to the present times, is there one name you did not have time and occasion to dub, but you have wished to do so, with respect to his actual voice-actor?

RC: There are many actors I would like to interpret, but I prefer to keep an eye at my own backyard. So, I look forward to dubbing my current actors and those that are going to be assigned to me in the future. I am not eager to dub the characters already interpreted by other colleagues.

LC: Historically, Italy has a famous school of fantastic voice-actors from the past to the current times. You are an example of it.

Is there a voice-actor from the past that influenced you, when you started this profession?

RC: Yes. Peppino Rinaldi, Pino Locchi, have influenced me quite a lot, indeed. Nevertheless, Cesare Barbetti was my greatest influencer. He was capable to teach us all how to address and cope with this profession. He was a great friend. All of the greatest were my friends too, but Cesarino more than anybody else. He gave me a lot and I took a lot from him. You always take from the most talented.

LC: Although you were already a notable actor, your dubbing career has lived an escalation: from the short lines of the first movies, to the major interpretations of the famous actors.

Is it more important to have technical or creative skills in this profession?

RC: You always learn both the techniques and the artistic creativity. You must have the same level of care for both skills. You cannot mimic the mouth of an actor and get into her/his soul, if you do not follow her/his mouth and emotivity. They are two factors strictly correlated. To recreate the exact character that the actor interprets it is important to have the technical competences, based on strong artistic emotivity. This is the main success key in this profession, which still represents a beautiful and respectable art.

It has been a great pleasure to meet you. We thank you a lot for your time and your voice.