Played by the late Matthew Perry who suddenly left us this weekend, the character of Chandler does not have the same French voice in the last two seasons of the series “Friends”. Do you know why ?
Last Saturday, American actor Matthew Perry, inseparable from the character of Chandler Bing in the legendary sitcom Friends, passed away at the age of 54. For French spectators, it was the actor Emmanuel Curtil, also known for dubbing Jim Carrey in most of his films or Simba in The Lion King, who lent him his instantly recognizable voice.
“I feel like a little part of me is gone”, the latter also confided to our microphone this Sunday, in reaction to the disappearance of the deceased actor, whom he had played in the first 8 seasons of Friends. However, as French-speaking fans of the famous series have certainly not failed to notice, it is another dubbing actor who took over the role of Chandler in the last two seasons (9 and 10).
This unexpected vocal change, which could sometimes have irritated the ears of certain regulars, also affected the characters of Joey and Rachel (respectively played by Matt LeBlanc and Jennifer Aniston). But what is it due to?
NBC
As Mark Lesser (first French voice of Joey, who ended up being replaced by Olivier Jankovic) confided to us when we invited him to our podcast Voix Ouf dedicated to dubbing actors, the change took place when season 9 (which was initially supposed to be the last) was announced. The six actors who lent their voices to Friends then tried to negotiate an increase in their fees with the production.
A request that they considered perfectly justified given the growing success of the series, their respective efforts to make it shine in France, and the place it occupied in their careers. Indeed, even if dubbing the 24 episodes per season only took them 12 days a year, they were extremely identified with their characters, and they were therefore offered fewer new roles at the same time.
Faced with the inflexibility of the production on their salaries, only three of the six dubbing actors went to the end of their battle without giving in, and were therefore replaced for seasons 9 and 10: Emmanuel Curtil (Chandler), who therefore was relieved by Antoine Nouel, Dorothée Jemma (Rachel), replaced by Monika Lawinska, and Mark Lesser (Joey), replaced by Olivier Jankovic.
In the documentary Friends: the reunion, unveiled on Salto in 2021 and recently rebroadcast on W9 in tribute to Matthew Perry, the six actors were able to find all their original French voices.
(Re)discover the credits of “Friends”…