Sunday, 20 November 2011

One Actor, Two Roles

I just finished watching 'Dead Ringers'.  Other than the fact it was a weird and not very up beat sunday afernoon film, I found myself most concerned by the fact that film makers had chosen Jeremy Irons to portray BOTH Mantle brothers. This is also the case in another famous twin movie 'The Parent Trap' (both versions).

Why? Why not find two perfectly good actors who are identical twins to play the part of identical twins?  Surely there are twin actors out there?  Perhaps it is a gimmick by the film company to promote the cleverness of the filming.  Maybe identical twins just weren't identical enough compared to one person.

To be honest, I found this really distracting and couldn't help looking for the join in the film where they sandwiched the same actor twice into the same frame, or looking out for the dodgy wig they'd put onto the 'Jeremy Irons from behind' actor whenever the brothers had physical contact.

I have been trawling the web to find answers, but so far seem unsuccessful.  However, in my search I have also came across films that feature twins, but use non-twin actors.  Which bring me back to my original question of why!? 

Can anyone shed any light?

No comments:

Post a Comment