by Katharine Schroeder

Filming of Rush Hour 3 in Los Angeles had stopped for the weekend, but that didn't keep Jackie from working anyway. Jackie likes to keep busy. Early Saturday morning we drove to a recording studio in Santa Monica, California so Jackie could begin work on dubbing The Myth into English for release in the US. The building was deserted save for the few people who were there for the session, and as soon as we arrived Jackie wanted to get started.

In the old days, when a film was dubbed into English from Chinese, little, if any, attempt was made to match the mouth movements to the speaking voice and this is one of the things that led to dubbed movies becoming the brunt of many jokes. The lack of coordination between the sound coming out of the actors' mouths and the movement of their lips was, at the very least, distracting and sometimes the discrepancy was so obvious that the dubbed film looked ridiculous. Such was not to be the case with the English dubbing of Jackie's blockbuster hit The Myth. Because of their tremendous respect for both Jackie and for the film, the distributors arranged an ace team to handle the dubbing. They spent time before Jackie arrived, working with the English subtitled version of the movie and rewording the dialogue to try and fit the mouth movements to the words. This was no easy task as their goal was to preserve the meaning of what was being said.

Right after we arrived at the sound studio, Jackie was anxious to get to work. Once the technicians were ready, it was time to begin. Diana Weng, Jackie’s long-time dialogue coach, was there to lend support to Jackie for the English. After we ate a quick breakfast, Jackie and Diana went into a soundproof room where the movie would play on a screen in front of them and a microphone would record Jackie as he read his lines from the script. This is easier said than done. When you are dubbing, it is necessary to read lines with the appropriate feeling. Of course Jackie was completely up to the task and he read the lines convincingly, switching between strong emotion, conversational tones, and tender readings. Sometimes he repeated lines over and over again until he got them just right. Occasionally there would be a phrase or sentence in the dialogue that would cause Jackie a lot of trouble, but he remained patient through countless tries as Diana (and sometimes the rest of us who were there) tried to help. At one point, Jackie became so excited about the music in the movie that he jumped up from his chair, ran out into the outer room, and sang "Endless Love" for everyone. What a treat!

What I found out after spending 8 hours in the dubbing studio with Jackie is that although he can pronounce difficult words individually, when they are paired with other words they can become unmanageable tongue-twisters. Hour after hour, Jackie spoke the dialogue and then waited for input from the sound technician and the others in the room to see how the voice matched up to the mouth and whether the line was said with the proper emotion and timing. We also spent a lot of time discussing the English subtitles that had been done for the film originally and whether or not they were true to the Chinese. Jackie clarified several things which will actually serve to make the English dub more accurate.

Break for lunch.

Although this was serious work, there were humorous moments sprinkled in throughout the day. Sometimes Jackie’s attempts would come out sideways and upside down and launch everyone  (including Jackie) into fits of laughter. Because of the time period that The Myth is set in, the language ranges from modern to antiquated and more than once Jackie would ask no one in particular “Who talks like this?” or “What kind of English is this?” It was a very challenging job which required great patience and dedication. Only one time over the two day session did Jackie get fed up; it was after a particularly challenging line which he repeated probably a dozen times. Finally he just stood up, took off his headphones, and announced that it was time for a break. Never once did he take out his frustration on Diana or the rest of us.

Jackie is caught napping in the baby's playpen (Diana brought her son to the studio.)

Another failed attempt to nap in peace.

Jackie takes a break.

Breaktime.

With dialogue coach Diana and her son Christien (also known as "Didi.")

On the second day of the dubbing, Jackie also recorded a running commentary to be included when the English dub eventually goes to DVD. When he first heard the idea of doing this in English, he was a little hesitant and thought that it would be difficult but once the film was rolling, he began to talk and never stopped until the entire movie was over. He told many funny anecdotes and shared lots of interesting stories about the making of the movie.

Aside from a break for lunch (and a quick nap), Jackie continued to forge ahead and because of his amazing dedication, he finished most of the dialogue ahead of schedule and next year sometime you will be treated to The Myth in a perfectly dubbed English version. When I asked Jackie what the worst part of dubbing The Myth was, he said it was the unfamiliar language that General Meng spoke that was very difficult for him to understand and voice properly. I can attest to the fact that despite the fact that Jackie had difficulties with this, he did a really wonderful job and the results will amaze you.

Note: Jackie spent another day in the studio and we'll tell you all about that soon. Click on the photo below to see a little video from that session. There were a few of us in the room when I took the video, but it is mainly Jackie's assistant Dorothy that you'll hear talking.

Jackie and Christien share breakfast.
Click to see video.

Text, photos, and video ©2006 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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