The original cast of The Avengers have assembled once again, only this time its to dub the 2012 superhero film in the Lakota language as part of a project to shine a light on the once-banned form of speech.
Marvel announced the project in a video on Friday, July 5, that included some behind-the-scenes glimpses of the stars learning to speak the language of the Sioux tribes and then act and deliver their lines, alongside some native speakers.
Mark Ruffalo, who portrays Bruce Banner/Hulk in the hit movie, helped organize the project, explained how the daunting task all came together.
‘This project came out of my relationship with the Lakota people,’ Ruffalo, 56, explained in the video. ‘And it was this fun thing that they wanted to do, where they wanted to take The Avengers, this crazy idea, let’s do a Lakota dub of The Avengers.’
The actor said he inspired to take part in the Lakota Project as a way to help revitalize the language, in part, because ‘there’s not a lot of people left who can speak it.’
Mark Ruffalo, 56, helped lead the charge to dub The Avengers (2012) with the Lakota language to shine a light on the once-banned form of speech in an effort to revitalize the language of the Sioux tribes
All of the lead actors went into the studio and had to learn and act their lines in Lakota, including lead actors like Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/Hulk), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye)
The clip showed Ruffalo in the studio being delivered his lines in Lakota, and then trying to not only speak the words but act them out.
Some of the other cast members seen dubbing their lines included Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow) and Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man), as well as some native speakers of the Lakota language.
One of the men involved in the Lakota Project maintains his ancestors were punished for speaking their own language, and as a result the speaking of the Lakota language ‘went underground.’
‘It was spoken only in bedrooms when the matrons weren’t there at the boarding schools,’ the unnamed man explained. ‘It was spoken in dark rooms where nobody could hear them, but it was still spoken.’
Another Lakota speaker added, ‘Our idea is to put the language back into the homes of their people, and to be able to have them bond in such a way that they’re having fun watching a movie and be totally integrated with the language of our people.’
‘Just getting everyone together on the same page is probably the most difficult thing, but everyone was into it,’ Ruffalo confessed.
‘It’s a daunting language,’ The Kids Are All Right star continued. ‘There are sounds that we just don’t have in our own language that they have in there’s. But once you get them it feels really good.’
‘It wasn’t just the dub, it was a recreation of The Avengers with the Lakota sensibility [and] the language,’ Ruffalo maintained. ‘I’m essentially acting with my other Native brothers and sister actors. And we’re acting these scenes in the Lakota language, and I have to act it too. I can’t just say the lines, it has to be acted.’
Ruffalo was inspired to take part in the Lakota Project as a way to help revitalize the language because ‘there’s not a lot of people left who can speak it’
‘This project came out of my relationship with the Lakota people,’ Ruffalo explained in the video. ‘And it was this fun thing that they wanted to do, where they wanted to take The Avengers, this crazy idea, let’s do a Lakota dub of The Avengers’
Downey Jr could be seen being enthusiastic about delivering his lines perfectly in the Lakota language
Johansson could be heard saying, ‘That sounded cool,’ after a take of her lines in Lakota
She is seen as Black Widow in a still from the 2012 film
‘Just getting everyone together on the same page is probably the most difficult thing, but everyone was into it,’ Ruffalo confessed
‘You have the most famous film franchise in the world and some of the famous actors, celebrities, and characters speaking our Lakota language that was once banned,’ one of the Native members of the project shared.
‘And so I think one of the more beautiful things from the project is out language doesn’t have to hide anymore.
Lakota, which is also referred to as Lakhota, Teton and Teton Sioux, is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes, according to Wikipedia.
Lakota is mutually intelligible with the two dialects of the Dakota language, especially Western Dakota, and is one of the three major varieties of the Sioux language.
Like many indigenous languages, the Lakota language did not have a written form traditionally.
However, efforts to develop a written form of Lakota began, primarily through the work of Christian missionaries and linguists, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
For the project, which took 15 months to complete, organizers used 62 native Lakota-Dakota language speakers to hep fill out the cast of supporting characters, according to Marvel
Written and directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers was a smash hit at the worldwide box office, grossing $1.519 billion against a budget of $220-225 million
The project took more than 15 months to complete, while the task included the use of 62 native Lakota-Dakota language speakers to help fill out the cast of supporting characters, according to Marvel.
Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner were not shown in the video. However, it was implied that all six of the original Avengers worked together on the Lakota Project dub.
Written and directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers was a smash hit at the worldwide box office, grossing $1.519 billion against a budget of $220-225 million.
The Lakota language dub of The Avengers is now available to stream exclusively on Disney+.
