Gremlins: Annotated Script from the Japanese Overdub sessions

This very unique artifact comes all the way from Japan and was used in the re-recording of dialog for the Japanese language version of Gremlins.

The Gremlins Museum

Japanese Gremlins movie poster

Japanese Gremlins Session Script

Personal script owned by actress Maya Okamoto


Introduction

When the 1984 movie Gremlins was ready for it's prime time television debut in Japan, the Fuji Television Network brought in local talent to help re-record all the dialog in Japanese.


The process of dubbing the film involved recording a new audio track in Japanese, which would be synced up to the existing visuals. The Japanese overdub sessions for Gremlins were headed by a team of experienced voice actors and directors, who worked to ensure that the new audio track accurately conveyed the tone and intent of the original film.


Dubbing a movie is a complicated and time consuming process, but it can also be a fun and rewarding experience for the voice actors and fans who get to enjoy the film in their own language. Actress, Maya Okamoto was hired to play the role of Kate (Phoebe Cates) and her many notes and dialog rewrites are contained in the following script pages. These sessions were held on March 19th, 1988 and then the movie was aired on April 2nd, 1988.

Japanese Gremlins Script Owned by Maya Okamoto
Japanese Gremlins Script Owned by Maya Okamoto

What is facinating about this script is how many personal notes Ms. Okamoto used in it. Through Japanese friends, they have told us that many of the annotations were put in place to help make Kate's voice sound more natural and ease the sometimes rigidness of a translation.

Japanese Gremlins Script Owned by Maya Okamoto
Japanese Gremlins Script Owned by Maya Okamoto
Japanese Gremlins Script Owned by Maya Okamoto
Japanese Gremlins Script Owned by Maya Okamoto
Kate giving santa Claus speech in Gremlins
Gizmo during santa Claus speech in Gremlins