Boris Rehlinger may not turn heads on the streets of Paris, but his voice is instantly recognisable to millions of French film-goers.
As the French voice of Ben Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix and even Puss in Boots, Rehlinger is a star behind the scenes, but now he is fighting to keep his craft alive in the age of AI.
“I feel threatened even though my voice hasn’t been replaced by AI yet,” he said.
Rehlinger is part of a French initiative, TouchePasMaVF, to protect human-created dubbing from artificial intelligence.
He said that to ensure audiences barely notice that the actor on screen is speaking a different language than they hear, there was a team of professionals, including actors, translators, production directors, dialogue adaptors and sound engineers, hard at work.
The rise of global streaming platforms such as Netflix, which rely heavily on dubbing to make global hits such as Squid Game and Lupin, has amplified demand.
Consumer research firm GWI says 43 per cent of viewers in Germany, France, Italy and Britain prefer dubbed content over subtitles.