Holiday Rush is Netflix’s Christmas comedy. Romany Malco, who plays the lead character, is dubbed by Stefano Crescentini, a likeable dubber with great expertise. We talked with him about the dubbing of the film (done by 3Cycle) and about a couple of anecdotes he unexpectedly experienced in his career.
«Holiday Rush is a film I remember very well, because we greatly enjoyed dubbing it. Dubbing is still an entertaining job: I get along well with Fabrizio Manfredi, the film was good fun and there is good harmony with 3Cycle, so it all pretty much sums up well.
The actor I dub, Romany Malco, ringed a bell… I was trying to picture who he was when I saw him, since I obviously don’t know him personally, and eventually I realised he starred in One million things, another TV series I was working on over the same period (although a colleague dubbed him then).
Supernatural – Jensen Ackles © 2016 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved
So it goes without saying that I’m no physiognomist; I don’t always remember who I have dubbed. That’s why I usually keep quiet and avoid commenting. But at a convention, I bumped into a cosplayer, dressed up as some sort of film character. I boldly stepped up to him and said I was proud to be standing before the renowned Captain Kirk of Star Trek… Then I found out, much to the cosplayer’s dismay, that the character was actually Ed Mercer from The Orville (a Fox series). Boy, was that a blunder!
Aside from that, this job gives you the opportunity to make unexpected encounters. A few years ago, for example, I got to know Jensen Ackles, one of the lead characters of Supernatural, a series I started working on in my younger days and that I’m actually still dubbing. So I kind of grew up with him. The cast of the series and I took part in a specifically dedicated RAI event in Rome. Thousands of fans showed up. So I actually got to know Jensen Ackles, who was keen to meet his dubbers around the world: he was pretty much taken aback when he met his Japanese dubber, who was practically half his height (Ackles is roughly 6’2”). He was expecting someone with a deep, strong voice, so he was baffled when he met that small guy… fortunately he seemed to be happier when he saw me. However, meeting him was pretty cool.
On another occasion, I almost got to meet Robert Pattinson, because Eagle Pictures had taken the whole cast of the Twilight saga (when the second instalment was released) to Rome. Federica De Bortoli (who dubbed Kristen Stewart) called me up to have me join in. But it was 31 October, I was getting ready to leave with my wife for Gubbio, where the white truffle festival was taking place. We had just finished working on the film, it had been a tough job, owing to technical issues, and all I wanted was to leave it all behind… So I decided to head for Gubbio!»
