Thread: The Voice of Smaug?
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Sean Connery did the voice of the dragon in Dragonheart well so he was my first thought but maybe somebody with a more gritty, evil voice would be better. Just my thought. Maybe Springsteen?Ah the marvels of modern voice alteration
Or maybe the voice of the dragon Wushu from Mulan.
Hands down, slap the table, done deal. It should be Bill Nighy. He did an awesome job as Davey Jones in Pirates. I watch those movies with my eyes closed and just imagine the voice coming from Smaug's mouth.
I have been thinking on this and I think I would rather the voice of the mean worm be a computerized one. Smaug is an unknown entity as it were since he did not go about talking to mortals and so something very amazing that is totally new and unknown before to me would be more mysterious and thrilling. I think I might feel disappointed knowing it was some person that we have all seen a hundred times
Not really sure about specific actors but I guess I would prefer if it's in a deep voice. At least that's how I imagined it while reading The Hobbit...
Also, for some reason, now I'm imagining it with the voice of an annoying leprechaun. The wonders of the human mind...
Hello.
Been racking my brains on this one and think I have to go the electronically enhanced one as well. As far as accents go, having just come back from Texas ( I had trouble getting my dwarvish chain mail through security let me tell you and the axe is another matter..) being told that you have an accent when you are English is a shock. Unfortunately we think we don't have one...I think whoever did the voice of Sauron was pretty good and in a way Smaug is an extension of him.
It appears both Sauron and Melkor tend to warp existing creatures as they get a kick out of it and as Stephen Donaldson so eloquently writes in Thomas Covenant the best torture for a man who has lost everything is to give him back something broken. Maybe even Ian McKellan or Hugo Weaving's warped voices may work.?
Heres a weird idea Eddie Izzard or Lance Henriksson, or Morgan Freeman!
B t B
What about David Beckham?
Only kidding, who ever is used I think there will be technical wizardry done on the voice, as with Treebeard. A dragons voice, if real, would be incredible deep and powerful, as per there size and cunning. A natural human voice would be very disappointing... Have you seen Eregon everyone?
The actor who played Gimli did a double role in the Lord Of The Rings, his other role was doing the voice of Treebeard.
PJ may well offer the voice of Smaug to an actor already cast in The Hobbit.
I did see the film Eragon and thought the enemy dragon was quite spectacular but not as vain as Smaug.
I think BBC's Merlin have a pretty decent dragon. Smaug is pure evil though, he needs a voice to match.
I think Smaug will be awesome, because PJ would't dare to mess it up!
Well, who would have guessed that Benedict Cumberpatch would be given the privilege of voice acting Smaug the dragon.
He has a commanding presence in the latest series of the Sherlock Holmes series and makes Martin
Freeman look rather small. A good buildup to their confrontation in the Misty Mountains.
I was being sarcastic re Eregon Im afraid....
With Benedict Cumberbatch cast Smaug it should be very interesting. He has a very unusual and creepy manner in the roles he has played and also has a deep resonant voice. Good choice I think.
I Definitely think that the voice should be very deep if not
a bit hoarse. Thats how I think of dragons. Deep and powerful.
Philip Anselmo from the American band, Pantera as Smaug.
And I believe that as far as accents go, they could be contrived better. If someone really wanted to make realistic accents for Middle Earth races, they would not rely wholly on existing accents. The languages of Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs would seem to have very different accents to me.
Someone of a Germanic decent speaking English sounds significantly different from, say, an American speaking English. An Orc or Dwarf in their sharp and rough sounding language would not have an English accent to me, but somewhat of an North Eastern European. I have always envisioned an Elf having more of a Brazillian, Portugese/Spanish accent style, based upon the vowel placement in the language. What would a rich blooded Numenorian sound like? How about one of the Rohirrim who also has their own language? I can't believe that all characters in Middle Earth would automatically get slapped with the queen's. How about Roac, son of Carc? That would have to be extremely Raven like and harsh! Those names themselves suggest the very sounds you would hear escape a Ravens beak. Go ahead, say Roac or Carc in your best parrot or ravens voice. I could certainly hear Breelanders or Shirefolk having an English or Scotch accent though.
As far as Smaug goes, I would like to hear something that would become one of who's vocal chords would be of enormous size. It would seem to me that the worm would have good control though. He did not scare poor Bilbo out of his wits when they had a conversation and even enticed him to speak up and say quite a bit more than he should have. Maybe a light Russian?
As Withy's already said, Smaug has been chosen. Benedict Cumberbatch will be voicing him.
I've liked the idea of Ian McKellen doing the voice for some time. Smaug's voice is very important. I hope PJ's choice conveys his wily and sinuous nature properly.
I am so excited to see(hear) how Benedict Cumberbatch's voice will work for Smaug. The Bilbo-Smaug scene will be funny. Sherlock and Watson all over again
I think he is a fine actor, but so much exposure is making him rather tedious to my mind.
Oh Vir, you are the best. You always imagined Smaug as sounding like Grover! I have to tell my Hasia, she loves him and since she read the entire book of the Hobbit with the rest of the family she will never ever ever be afraid of him again. Better still, since Smaug flies he can be just like Super Grover, with the same intellect. Miss you, hope you are happy and well.
