Laverne Cox’s character in ‘Promising Young Woman’ dubbed by male voice actor in Italy: ‘Straight-up act of violence’
Universal Pictures International is apologizing for casting a male actor to voice Laverne Cox’s character in “Promising Young Woman.”
The Italian premiere of the Oscar-winning revenge thriller has been postponed to a later date, after a trailer of the Italian-dubbed version of the movie outraged some viewers.
According to The Guardian, the since-restricted clip showed a conversation between Cox’s character, Gail, and the film’s protagonist Cassie, played by Oscar-nominated actress Carey Mulligan.
The choice of the actor to give Gail her Italian voice, however, struck a chord among viewers.
In “Una Donna Promettente,” Cox’s character was voiced by 59-year-old Roberto Pedicini, a male voice actor known as the official Italian voice of characters played by Kevin Spacey, Javier Bardem, Jim Carrey and Woody Harrelson.
The clip was posted on Universal Pictures Italy’s website on May 6, a week before the Emerald Fennell-directed movie was set to hit theaters.
“I think this dubbing choice was a straight-up act of violence,” Italian voice actor Vittoria Schisano, who’s trans, told The Guardian.
“It’s insulting. I’d feel bullied if I were [Cox],” added Schisano, who dubbed the actress on the Netflix documentary “Amend: The Fight for America.”
Schisano, who’s also the Italian voice for the transgender character Natalie on Netflix’s adult animated show “Big Mouth,” told the outlet that she wasn’t even asked to read for the “Promising Young Woman” part.
The controversy led Universal Pictures International, which handles distribution of the movie in Europe, to issue an apology. It also announced that it would work to fix the situation, thus changing the movie’s release date.
“We are deeply grateful to Laverne and the transgender community for opening our eyes to a bias that neither we nor many in our industry had recognized,” a spokesperson told The Guardian.
“While there was no malicious intent behind this mistake, we are working diligently to fix it. We have begun redubbing Ms Cox’s voice with female actors in our international territories and are pushing back release dates to ensure the correct version is available.”
“We are sorry for the pain caused but are thankful that we can address the situation on this film and prevent similar mistakes from happening again on future projects,” the statement added.
