“This is a very interesting process that requires love and perseverance,” – Viacheslav Khostikoiev, the voice actor who dubs movies for the Hollywood in Ukrainian Project

10/ 12/ 2021

You may not know it, but the European Business Association has ties to Hollywood 😉 Well, to be more precise, one of our members is the Ukrainian streaming service SWEET.TV. They were the first among their peers to sign direct contracts with Hollywood studios. Driven by its social responsibility concept, SWEET.TV creates Ukrainian-language dubbing for Hollywood movies – both classic and new ones. The project is called Hollywood in Ukrainian and by now it has more than 180 films, cartoons, and TV series dubbed in Ukrainian. The project involves actors who consider the idea of creating Ukrainian-language content worthy of support and one of them is Viacheslav Khostikoiev. He is the Ukrainian voice of Spider-Man played by Tobey Maguire, as well as the character of Timothee Chalamet in the movie Dune. And Viacheslav is also the character of our Like a pro Project that highlights interesting professions represented in the EBA community. How did he become a voice actor? What does the dubbing process look like? Which prospects do voice actors have in Ukraine? Learn further in the interview. How did you become a voice actor? As a child, I passed the casting into the dubbing studio. At that time, I studied in the 9th grade and that profession seemed like magic to me. And that’s when my professional journey began. I was immediately allowed to dub a quite long series where I could build up my confidence and get some valuable experience. I was lucky enough to have worked with many talented directors. They taught me a range of different dubbing skills and techniques, and for that, I am immensely grateful to these people. How does the movie dubbing work? What is expected of a voice actor? It is a very interesting, laborious process that requires love and perseverance. There are two rooms involved in the process. The first one is completely soundproofed and that’s where an actor works on the dubbing. The second one has the director, sound director, and administrator. A movie snippet that needs to be dubbed into a specific language appears on the monitor screen. The actor must convey the exact emotional state, character, and features of his characters speech and do it as efficiently, fast, and efficiently as possible. It can take from 5 minutes to 6-7 hours, sometimes dubbing takes 8-9 hours. It was quite challenging to dub Tobey Maguire’s cries when he was flying on the web, Viacheslav confessed. It needs to sound natural and similar to the original, but in a new way. There are also other details of dubbing Spider-Man shared by Viacheslav in the video: https://youtu.be/whpuhPNJG4c What do you like and dislike about the profession? Somehow it turned out that I have nothing to complain about. This is a great opportunity to be a part of the movies I watched as a child, to recreate the famous characters in my native language and experience the same emotions as the actors playing them did, and to temporarily try the shoes of a superhero or a villain. For me, it is pure pleasure. Especially since I am gaining tremendous experience, developing my acting skills and stage language. What are the prospects for voice actors in Ukraine? As in any profession, everything depends on the person who is on his creative path. Dubbing develops the actor, toughens, and disciplines him. Further prospects depend on the individual goals and desire to work. There are many wonderful studios in Ukraine working on many projects, with different languages and different formats. These can be computer games, social videos, commercials, movies, TV series, and more. We thank Viacheslav for sharing the backstage of his unusual profession with us! Previously in Like a pro, we interviewed a stress engineer. If you want to compare these two professions and learn if there is room for creativity in engineering, then check the link 🔎

Driven by its social responsibility concept, SWEET.TV creates Ukrainian-language dubbing for Hollywood movies – both classic and new ones. The project is called Hollywood in Ukrainian and by now it has more than 180 films, cartoons, and TV series dubbed in Ukrainian.

The project involves actors who consider the idea of creating Ukrainian-language content worthy of support and one of them is Viacheslav Khostikoiev. He is the Ukrainian voice of Spider-Man played by Tobey Maguire, as well as the character of Timothee Chalamet in the movie “Dune”.

And Viacheslav is also the character of our Like a pro Project that highlights interesting professions represented in the EBA community. How did he become a voice actor? What does the dubbing process look like? Which prospects do voice actors have in Ukraine? Learn further in the interview.

How did you become a voice actor?

As a child, I passed the casting into the dubbing studio. At that time, I studied in the 9th grade and that profession seemed like magic to me.

And that’s when my professional journey began. I was immediately allowed to dub a quite long series where I could build up my confidence and get some valuable experience. I was lucky enough to have worked with many talented directors. They taught me a range of different dubbing skills and techniques, and for that, I am immensely grateful to these people.

How does the movie dubbing work? What is expected of a voice actor?

It is a very interesting, laborious process that requires love and perseverance.

There are two rooms involved in the process. The first one is completely soundproofed and that’s where an actor works on the dubbing. The second one has the director, sound director, and administrator. A movie snippet that needs to be dubbed into a specific language appears on the monitor screen.

The actor must convey the exact emotional state, character, and features of his character’s speech and do it as efficiently, fast, and efficiently as possible. It can take from 5 minutes to 6-7 hours, sometimes dubbing takes 8-9 hours.

“It was quite challenging to dub Tobey Maguire’s cries when he was flying on the web,” Viacheslav confessed. “It needs to sound natural and similar to the original, but in a new way.” There are also other details of dubbing “Spider-Man” shared by Viacheslav in the video:

What do you like and dislike about the profession?

Somehow it turned out that I have nothing to complain about. This is a great opportunity to be a part of the movies I watched as a child, to recreate the famous characters in my native language and experience the same emotions as the actors playing them did, and to temporarily try the shoes of a superhero or a villain. For me, it is pure pleasure. Especially since I am gaining tremendous experience, developing my acting skills and stage language.

What are the prospects for voice actors in Ukraine?

As in any profession, everything depends on the person who is on his creative path. Dubbing develops the actor, toughens, and disciplines him. Further prospects depend on the individual goals and desire to work.

There are many wonderful studios in Ukraine working on many projects, with different languages and different formats. These can be computer games, social videos, commercials, movies, TV series, and more.

We thank Viacheslav for sharing the backstage of his unusual profession with us! Previously in Like a pro, we interviewed a stress engineer. If you want to compare these two professions and learn if there is room for creativity in engineering, then check the link 🔎