When we think of character voice, we tend to think of groupings of syllables. There’s more to it than that.
Characters such as Rick Blaine had certain words they used more than others. Try counting the times that Rick says “guests” in Casablanca. It’s often more a sarcastic phrase, but sometimes almost a familiar friend usage. Rick broke character at the first turn in Casablanca – and that’s when you see there’s more to this World War II movie than you think, as you realize that Rick is covering up for tragedy, loss and heartbreak.
Now where things get interesting is when you did what I did for a writing assignment, and you replace Ugarte’s character with Shogun Ieyesu Tokugawa.
The voicing changes. The ironic “You despise me, don’t you Rick?” rolls more strongly from Tokugawa’s lips – it’s a challenge, not the cringing tone that Ugarte takes.
And the “oh, yes… poor devils” makes you despise Ugarte – but it’s a chilling response from Tokugawa.
Do you hear the difference? I’m using exactly the same dialog, but you HEAR it differently when you listen to Ugarte’s rhythms, versus the strong tone of hearing a Japanese Shogun who’s fought over fifty major battles to reach the throne in Eido.
The way Peter Lorre played Ugarte, he is fawning, contemptible, despicable. That was how he read the character. And so he shapes his dialog in such a way as to make you despise him even more, cringing sometimes, fawning others. And then the tactic admission he killed two German couriers just to get letters of transit just to make himself wealthy.
As a writing exercise, think of how Tokugawa plays the role – He’s not contemptible. And so, rick’s dialog of “If I thought about you, I would” is more a subtle jab, not a complete dismissal of a human being. Ugarte doesn’t cringe when Rick says it – he despises himself, but he’s comfortable with it. Tokugawa would ignore Rick – he would see Rick as an equal, and would view Rick’s response as humor.
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Try this – as a writing exercise, take a character from one book and cast him in a different role in another. Hear how the voicings stay the same! Santa Claus as a king in Medieval England – take the voice patterns, weighted emphasis, and the speech characteristics you think of when you hear Santa, and place him in the role perhaps of Henry VIII, or even as a weak king such as Henry VI. This is your chance to re-write Shakespeare!
