MovieChat Forums > French Connection II (1975) Discussion > Charnier's accent

Charnier's accent

posted 8 years ago by detune
4 replies | jump to latest

For the first film, Charnier's 4 or 5 lines of English dialogue didn't bother me. Perhaps Rey had a dialogue coach, or the lines were just so minimal to not be of much notice.

But here, Rey is allowed to go wild. His accent is completely Spanish, with nary a trace of French inflection. I'm surprised that no one in the crew took notice, or perhaps he just couldn't do it.

Of course, as unusual of a character as he is, Charnier could be a man of French descent who was born and/or raised in Spain. Or perhaps Alain Charnier is simply a French-sounding alias for a drug lord who is actually a Spaniard. Doesn't really fit the spirit of the films, but possible.

[–] McQueen1980 8 years ago

IT WAS DUBBED BY ANOTHER ACTOR for the two films

[–] detune 8 years ago

If that's true, why wouldn't they use a French actor to dub him?

[–] amolad-1 7 years ago

Fernando Rey was miscast by mistake. It's in the Trivia for the first movie:

"Fernando Rey was cast by mistake; William Friedkin wanted an actor he remembered seeing in Belle de Jour (1967), and the casting director thought it was Fernando Rey - who was hired. Only upon arriving at the airport to meet Rey did Friedkin see that it was not the actor he had been thinking of; he also learned that Rey spoke no French. Once at Rey's hotel (the same one he stays at in the film), Friedkin called the casting director, who realized he had confused Rey's name with that of the correct actor, Francisco Rabal. Friedkin considered firing Rey, but changed his mind once it was learned that Rabal wasn't available and didn't speak any English."

[–] detune 7 years ago

Yes, I know about the miscasting. What I want to understand is why no one took steps to either coach him to use a French accent or dub him using a French actor. It created a noticeable flaw.