Dorothée Pousseo: “Before dubbing Margot Robbie, I had already made a Barbie film!”

The French voice of the Australian actress gives us some anecdotes about this big hit of 2023 in the cinema, at the time of its release on DVD and blu-ray.

Since Martin Scorsese revealed Margot Robbie to the general public thanks to Wolf of Wall Streetshe is dubbed in France for around fifteen films by the same actress, Dorothée Pousseo. She’s one of the most famous voices in France: from Disney Channel to advertisements for Playmobil or Parcs Astérix, you’ve definitely already heard her! Extremely active in the dubbing of films, series, but also video games (Trace in Overwatchit’s her), the actress also plays in the flesh (in Problems by Eric Judor, for example), and sings with Aldebert as “Mortal Adele”.

On the occasion of the arrival of the biggest success of the year 2023 in our living rooms (1.4 billion dollars in global revenue, all the same), she gives us a handful of anecdotes from behind the scenes of the dubbing of the blockbuster by Greta Gerwig. Whether it is a question of “ken ken” or to detail his first dive into the world of barbiefrom 2003 for an animated film, she speaks with humor and passion about her profession.

“Margot Robbie and I”

“I’ve been doing theater and dubbing since I was a kid. Margot Robbie, I started dubbing her just ten years ago, on The wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese, who himself supervised the French voices. There was another actress on the trailers, who was great, but he wanted a voice closer to that of his actress. I was offered to take part in a casting and thanks to my deep and scratchy tone, I ‘won’ ! He chose me. Well, I don’t think he knows my name, he must have said something like: ‘I want vote #2!’ But still, I was selected by Martin Scorsese, I can die peacefully (laughs).

For barbie, Warner Bros. quite simply called on me because I was already the French voice of the actress, and I had notably done the Suicide Squad with them. Harley Quinn was already a huge experience before Barbie, with game differences in each new film, and I’m also doing her in animation, in a series where she finally got rid of Mr. J (the Joker) and falls in love with Poison Ivy (Harley Quinnbroadcast on Max since 2019, editor’s note). It’s quite cool because in the original version, it’s no longer Margot in the role, whereas in French, it creates a certain continuity.

barbie was pleasant to dub, already because for this role, Robbie had taken a lighter voice. She goes less into the bass, we almost hear her raspy voice more whereas in Me, Tonya we really have a very broken voice. In Babylon, also, she has moments where she was almost voiceless from having shouted a lot in certain scenes. For me too, this kind of recording is physical!
Next to it, Barbie was more relaxing, with more of the positive, this joyful spirit… Well, that said, Margot has lots of dramatic scenes in this film, I cried quite a bit, my mascara took a hit a blow !”

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The confidence of its artistic director

“For me, adventure barbie was summed up quite quickly: the artistic director, Barbara Tissier, knows me well, she knew what she wanted and what I could bring, so we moved quite quickly. Unfortunately, we were not able to record together with Alexandre Gillet (Ken’s voice actor, played by Ryan Gosling, editor’s note). He’s a great guy, we get along really well, but we didn’t have the same arrangements, it was a hassle for her to plan. In addition, with this kind of heavy dubbing, we must not step on each other. In short, it was complicated. But as she knows that I need an actor in front to respond to me, she suggested that I record after him, so that I could listen to his lines on headphones and get in the same tone.

I have an anecdote that sums up our collaboration well: I suggested that she add a valve compared to the American version, and she supported me. You know when Barbie comes back from the real world with the two humans? At one point, they are on a bike and America Ferrera’s character says to her: ‘Don’t tell Ken, but I never had a Ken.’ We understand that this doll doesn’t interest him too much and Barbie responds with something quite innocuous: ‘That’s because Ken is completely expendable.’ Seeing this scene in English, I suggested: ‘And if I answered him: ‘That’s because he can’t ken, Ken.’ There were already all these references to the fact that they don’t have genitals, so it didn’t seem right to me. too much.

Barbara is great, she liked it, she immediately replied: ‘Yeah, let’s go for it!’ My version was recorded, and not the planned text which was obviously much more sober, without ‘ken’. I’m talking about the verb, of course. When we submitted the recording to Warner, the French loved it. They laughed a lot. They wanted to keep it, but the Americans listened and said something like: ‘What is ken ken?’ So we had to explain it to them and then it was over. Our interlocutor said: ‘Oh no, no, no, it’s weird. It’s weird.’ We then re-recorded the softer line that you hear in the film.

We said to ourselves that it was a bit of a shame as our French partners found it funny and not super vulgar either. Anyway, too bad, we forget that, and a few weeks later, the Americans come out the famous poster with Barbie and Ken and this incredible hook that could be translated literally: ‘She can do anything, he’s just Ken.’ And here is this double meaning again! (laughs) We received lots of reactions from adults who thought it was great. Whereas the children, it goes over their heads, frankly, it’s not shocking.”

The strength of barbie ? Its double reading

“I personally had this kind of double reading experience. My nine-year-old daughter sees the film and says to me: ‘Wow, women run the world, they decide.’ She is touched by the message. Whereas my six-year-old is not going to be in that universe at all. She will just see that the pink dress is pretty, that there is a slide and sequins. She will recognize ‘her’ Barbie house and come away amazed thanks to that. It’s funny to see, a few years apart, all the possible readings.

I believe that this is what contributed to this global success. Like the success of a Disney, the asset of barbie, it’s reading for all ages. This double reading that we can all have as man, woman, young, old, ‘midlife’, what we want. And then, there is also this pink, this desire to smile, of lightness. I felt like the world needed that at that time. I do not know if barbie would have worked just as well coming out another year. There, after Covid, the wars resuming everywhere, all these horrors around us, people were so exhausted that they wanted lightness this summer.

His first experience with barbie

“My other funny story with Barbie is that before becoming the French voice of Margot Robbie, and therefore being called for this film, I was already part of this universe. Thanks to Barbie and Swan Lake. You know ? It came out at least 20 years ago! I played the villain, my name was Odile. A character who spent all his time screaming. It was fun to play. I remember giving him a horrible laugh. Extremely strident.

Besides, villain roles are always the ones where we have the most fun in dubbing, because it’s the outlet. In short, it blew me away at the time, and people talk to me about it often. In hindsight, it’s funny because this dubbing was directed by Danielle Perret, as on The wolf of Wall Street. Everything is connected !”

An artistic director herself, Dorothée Pousséo recently founded her own dubbing school with another specialist in this field, Kelly Marot (the regular French voice of Jennifer Lawrence, among others). All the information on Dub-School can be found on their official website.

Here is the trailer for barbierecently available on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD :

Margot Robbie denies Barbie 2: “We gave everything in this unique film”