Supplemental Post #2 - KC Chow

I just watched The Greatest Showman this weekend and was curious whether Rebecca Ferguson (who plays opera singer Jenny Lind) did her own singing for the song "Never Enough," which is a penultimate scene in the film. It turns out that she was dubbed by The Voice alum Loren Allfred.

After this, I read some reviews on the movie where some critics said that the filmmakers should have just had Loren Allred play the entire part of Jenny Lind, instead of having Rebecca Ferguson play a singer, only to be dubbed when she actually has to sing.

I understand that this is common practice in Hollywood to have separate talent portray the "acting" and "singing" parts of the same role (ie. Minnie Driver in The Phantom of the Opera or Ming-Na Wen for Mulan), but it does feel like such an antiquated practice.

To me, it doesn't matter that Rebecca Ferguson's singing voice was dubbed in the same manner that Natalie Portman had a dance double for Black Swan and Margot Robbie had a skating double for I, Tonya. As long as the other person is credited, I only really care about the acting performance and disagree with critics that say that Loren Allfred should have played the entire part as Rebecca Ferguson (though still not mainstream) is the bigger draw to audiences and has acting experience.

My question: Do you guys think that this practice is dated and studios should just look for talent that is the "whole package"? Do you find that having a double (singing, dancing, or otherwise) takes away or devalues the actor's performance?