Christians in Cinema

A dialogue coach is someone who works with the actors and actresses on a film to pronounce and enunciate their lines with emotion to give it the right touch. Even more importantly, they work with actors who need to have a certain accent or dialect for their role.

It can be a challenge for someone from Australia to play a character from the United States. When giving instructions about doing something with hands or feet, that is easily demonstrated. Try showing someone what to do with their mouth to create sounds.

Many dialogue coaches are also successful actors and may have a degree in English, speech pathology, communication or theater. As a general rule, they are brought onto a film set to figure out what’s wrong with someone’s accent or speech.

In preparation for The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson had his cast coached in Aramaic. And for The Nativity Story, Catherine Hardwicke not only obtained coaching for the actors, she also arranged for them to learn firsthand about the working and living conditions of Israelites around the time of Christ’s birth. Without great dialogue coaches, the actors would have been much less believable in their roles. When they have done their job well, the accent, or lack of one, will go completely unnoticed by the audience.

Perhaps one of today’s most famous dialogue coaches is the lion trying to teach his friend to say “Carne asada.” Come on, roll those Rs!