 Say hello to the trailer voice guys. Last weekend, after having been a
little stressed, I just needed a moment to laugh. I then remembered a video shown by my
friends of a comedian named Pablo Francisco. In this video, he was imitating a trailer
guy, one of the guys who does the voiceovers for movie trailers (the clips advertising
other films that you see in the theater before the main feature comes on). This made me
realize that most of us know only their voices and nothing else about them.
So, say hi to Don LaFontaine, known as the "King of the Movie Trailers," the
"Voice of God (VoG)" and, simply, the "King." He was born on August
26, 1940, in Duluth, Minnesota, in the USA. He's married and has kids, so don't get too
attracted by his charismatic voice. He's 1.74 meters tall. I had always thought that he
was very tall and scary, but he looks like a normal person in his photo. His voice is
described as breathy, deep, sonorous and threatening. During his career he did the
voiceovers for more than 4,000 movie trailers, commercials and network promos. He was also
the creator of some of the phrases most often used in trailers, such as "In a world
where…," "A one-man army…," and "Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
And no way out…."
He became a multi-millionaire thanks to his excellent (and enjoyable) work. (Don't you
wish you had a voice like his? I do!) But when he started to work in this field, he was a
young engineer, and had nothing to do with being a trailer voice. Rather, he was
responsible for writing scripts, recording, and creating music and effects. One day,
however, the announcer didn't show up, and he had to do the voiceover himself. This
fateful incident led to the creation of the VoG. To those who still can't place him, he
was the narrator of "Star Wars." Incidentally, Don LaFontaine is often confused
with Hal Douglas, who is another famous trailer voice guy. Most of his trailers start with
the words "In a world where..." Isn't it ironic that these words were actually
written by Don?
This year, the most popular trailers include: "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of
the Sith," "Fantastic Four," "Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire," "The Da Vinci Code," "Doom" and the list goes on....
I hope that you've enjoyed this little documentary about the trailer voice guys. I just
want to finish by suggesting that you have a look at Pablo's performance from
"Saturday Night Live" on his official website. It's excellent. Have a week full
of giggles :-)
Sıla Türkü Kural (EE/III)
turku@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
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