The actors who play two roles in one movie include some of Hollywood's biggest stars. Nicolas Cage, Eddie Murphy, and Cate Blanchett are just three examples of who have played identical twins, doppelgangers, or doubles on screen, respectively. The actors love this kind of challenge, especially when the plot requires them to play against themselves.
This technique has been around for a long time. Technology allowed this back in the 20s of the 20th century, but at that time the camera had to remain stationary. Modern technology allows the camera to move, which opens up more possibilities for the actors. Actors can move freely around the scene and even interact with themselves physically. Of course, what really brings this illusion to life is the performances of the actors. When someone understands and interprets the situation perfectly, the magic effect happens.
Here are some selected performances that have excelled in the movie of playing a double role. The rules are simple: actors can only play two roles that are crucial to the plot, and their performance must be of high quality. Your vote will determine which performance will stand out.
Lindsay Lohan and Hayley Mills in Home Alone
Home Alone and its remake occupy a unique place in the film industry. Both films are generally considered to be well-made, and both hold a special place in the hearts of audiences from their respective eras. The story follows a pair of identical twins, who are being raised separately and meet at summer camp and hatch a plan to reconcile their divorced parents.
The original 1961 film was a huge success, thanks to Hailey Mills' excellent performance as Sharon and Susan. It tugs at the heartstrings of children whose parents are divorced. The 1998 remake featured Lindsay Lohan as Harry and Annie. Younger audiences may not be familiar with the original, but they are just as enthusiastic about the newer version as the children of the 60s loved the earlier version. In both cases, the strong and charismatic performance of the actresses was a key factor in success. Both Mills and Lohan have succeeded in making the girls' desire for family harmony resonant.
Christian Bale's performance in Deadly Magic
Christian Bale has a special spot on this list, as viewers won't realize that he actually played two roles until the movie "Deadly Magic" draws to a close. The entire film follows a magician named Alfred Borden who is caught in an endless rivalry with another magician, Robert Angel (Hugh Jackman). Much of their rivalry revolves around a magic trick called "Shapeshifting", which, as the name suggests, allows Borden to move from side to side of the stage in an instantaneous and seemingly impossible.
The film's climactic ending reveals how Borden accomplishes this trick with the assistance of his twin brother Freddie, who alternates playing Alfred, as well as Bernard Fallon, disguised as Alfred's assistant. Deadly Magic delves into the misleading notion of magic, which is how magicians can distract the audience from details that could have revealed the secrets of magic. Bell (and writer and director Christopher Nolan) also made some of their own misdirection in the film, giving a real shock to first-time viewers.
Sam Rockwell's performance in "The Moon".
Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell in the movie "The Moon", a lone space astronaut who mines gas for a company on Earth. After his lunar rover malfunctions, he returns to the space station and unexpectedly discovers that there is another person there: a clone of himself. Although technically they are the same person, one of them, Sam, is slightly older than the other. As a result, their perspectives are often different. However, once they realized that the company might be engaged in some suspicious activity, the two men began to work together.
With few other actors in "The Moon," Rockwell had to play against himself. His performance is excellent, making the technique seem seamless and the story compelling. Equally impressive, he made sure that we were always able to distinguish Sam No. 1 from Sam No. 2 based on personality alone.
Tom Hardy's performance in Legends
The first time there was a movie telling the story of the notorious British gangster brothers Ronnie and Reggie Clay, it was starring Gary and Martin Kemp, members of the pop band Spandau Ballet. Unlike The Clay Brothers, the 2015 crime drama "Legend" hired only one actor to play the twin brothers. That actor is the extremely talented Tom Hardy.
When watching the film, you can clearly feel that he is very much enjoying the opportunity to play two characters with very different personalities. Ronnie tries to show an air of sophistication, while Reggie is a psychopath prone to outbursts of violence. The film chronicles their rise in the gangster world of London. Having Hardy play the role of two Clay brothers at the same time could have been seen as a gimmick, but his performance was so strong that the attempt was completely successful. He single-handedly created a twisted dynamics of brotherly relationships.
Jeremy Irons' performance in "The Buckle of Sin".
Jeremy Irons plays twin brothers in David Cronenberg's "Buckles," and both are somewhat creepy, albeit in different ways. Elliott and Beverly Mantel are gynecologists with few ethical boundaries. Elliott uses his position to flirt with some female clients. When he gets tired of them, he pushes them to Beverly. Since they are identical twins, the women are unaware that they are actually in a relationship with two different men.
"Buckles" is widely regarded as showcasing some of Irons' best performances. He portrays Elliott as a sleek, charming, and honestly a bit of a lewd guy. Beverly is quieter and more reserved, but equally unsettling. Irons' performances in both characters are very realistic, making the whole story extremely disturbing, especially when Beverly's relationship with Elliot deteriorates after he falls in love, and Beverly begins to go to extremes.
Lupita Nyong'o's performance in "Us".
Lupita Nyong'o presents two of the best performances of a modern horror film in Jordan Peele's "Us." On the one hand, she is Adelaide, a woman whose family is plagued by four doppelgangers. The actress is also Red, the leader of those doppelgangers. As the story unfolds, we learn that everyone on land has an underground doppelganger who is forced to eat rabbits and usually lives a miserable life.
"Us" details what happened when Danghong came to the ground to take revenge on Adelaide for a swap of identities when he was a child. Nyong'o effectively dramatizes Adelaide's fear in the face of her doppelganger, but what she really excels at is playing Red. With an empty yet nervous gaze and an unsettling, demonic voice, she creates an eternal and menacing villain. It's chilling to watch the actress self-intimidate herself in the play.
Amy Hammer's performance in The Social Network
One of the highlights of "The Social Network" is that when the movie was released, Amy Hammer was still a relatively unknown actor. This meant that many viewers thought that director David Fincher had really hired a pair of real-life twins to play Cameron and Taylor Winklevoss, and that the brothers believed that Mark Zuckerberg had cheated them when he created Facebook, costing them out of potential profits. But in reality, both roles are played by one person.
Hammer gives the brothers slightly different personalities so that the audience can always tell them apart. A subtle joke in the movie is that Cameron and Taylor often incite each other's anger. The actor's ability to pull off this performance so convincingly is a testament to his early talent.
Nicolas Cage's performance in "Adapted Screenplay".
In Spike Jones' Adapted Screenplay, Nicolas Cage plays twins – one real and the other fictional. If that sounds a little confusing, then welcome to this movie that will make you enjoy your mind spinning. One of the twins is Charlie Kaufman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter who wrote "Becoming John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine for a Beautiful Mind." He was hired to adapt Susan Orlin's book, The Orchid Thief, but severe writer's block prevented him from completing the work. Cage also plays Charlie's brother Donald, who has a lot of ideas on how to adapt the book, but his more artistically minded brother doesn't like the ideas.
Charlie pursues sophistication in the narrative, while Donald loves action scenes and special effects. Cage is fully integrated into both characters, making the twins' struggle between art and commerce infinitely enjoyable and fascinating.
Tilda Swinton's performance in Long Live Caesar
In the Coen brothers' film Long Live Caesar, many good actors have outstanding performances, but the role of Tilda Swinton is perhaps the most compelling. She plays twin sisters, Sola and Sesley Shackle. The twins even have the same profession: gossip columnists. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the relationship between them is not harmonious.
The tension between Sora and Ceslie is intended to mimic the famous feud between legendary Hollywood gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Luella Parsons. The characters are very compelling, and Swinton knows how to dig into the humor. She's the perfect portrayal of the old-school, self-centered gossip columnists — the kind who wield their immense power without shame because they know all the secrets of the biggest stars.
Lee Marvin's performance in "The Wild Gang".
Lee Marvin won an Oscar for his outstanding performance in the film "Wild Gang", which speaks volumes about his excellence in the film. Jane Fonda actually played the title character, a woman whose father was killed by gunman Tim Strawn. And Marvin plays not only Strawn, but also Kidd Schilling, a once-legendary and now alcoholic and barely working gunslinger hired by the heroine to take revenge.
It wasn't a surprise to see Marvin play the villain Straun. After all, he is known for playing villain and tough guy roles. But it was unusual to see him in the more comedic character of Shirin, a role that allowed another side of his talent to shine. Esquire's Dwight MacDonald wrote that Marvin's Shirin is "as wide as the barn door he missed during shooting practice, but he over-performs it so subtly that it elevates it to a grotesque humanity." "It's an unexpected comedic shift from an actor you might not expect to deliver this type of performance.
Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in Rivals
Before rocking the world with Advent and Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve directed a film called Rivals, a work full of metaphysical puzzles that makes a big deal about the themes of identity and subconscious power. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Adam Bell, a college professor whose life lacks excitement. He finds some excitement after renting a movie because he sees an actor named Anthony Claire (also played by Gyllenhaal), who looks exactly like him. Adam became obsessed with the idea that he had a doppelganger and began stalking the actor. From there, things went crazy for the two.
The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips summed up the critical response to Gyllenhaal's work, saying the actor "deftly portrays the differences in character and the level of confidence between the two lead roles." In other words, he professionally shows these two men at different stages of their lives. This, in turn, makes the development of the plot more powerful when their paths eventually cross.
Tilda Swinton's performance in Jade
Tilda Swinton has played twins more than once in her career (or in other words, she has had multiple twin-like performances). In Bong Joon-ho's "Okja", the sisters are Lucy and Nancy Mirador. Lucy is the CEO of Mirador and wants to restore the company's image by hosting a specially bred "super pig" breeding competition. Ten years later, one of the pigs will be declared the winner. When the company faced allegations of animal cruelty, Lucy stepped down and handed the company over to Nancy.
This is where Swinton showcases her acting skills. Lucy is a capitalist, but her intentions are usually well-intentioned, even if sometimes with negative consequences. Nancy, on the other hand, is downright evil, trying to send the winning pig, who has developed a deep bond with the little hostess, to the slaughterhouse. The actress brilliantly captures two different types of ruthless ambition.
Eddie Murphy's performance in Project Balfinger
Eddie Murphy often plays multiple roles in his films, including the entire Kramp family in "The Fat Guy Professor." Arguably, his performance in the 1999 comedy The Bauffinger Project, in which he co-starred with Steve Martin, was arguably his best work in this regard. He plays Kit Ramsay, a big Hollywood action movie star. He also played Jeff, a man who resembles Kit in appearance. The plot of the movie is that producer Bobby Bowen (Martin) secretly shoots a film that Kitt has not yet agreed to participate in, and then uses Jeff to fill the void.
The contrast between these two characters couldn't be greater. Kit has a conceited personality, but he is also part of a strange cult-like group that leads him to believe that he is being tracked by aliens. This gave him a sense of paranoia that matched his conceit. Jeff, on the other hand, is a nerd with a sweet personality and is quite ignorant of the world around him. Murphy made the two men three-dimensional characters so much that it's easy to forget that both roles were played by the same actor.
Jesse Eisenberg's performance in "Double Personality".
"Double Personality" is based on a novella by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Jesse Eisenberg plays Simon James, a low-level clerk who works in a government agency. One day, a new employee appeared. That's James Simon, who looks and sounds exactly like Simon James, even though no one else in the office seems to notice.
Except that their names are reversed versions of each other, these two are complete opposites. As Simon, Eisenberg had to show loneliness and tedium. And as James, on the contrary, he shows confidence, excitement, and success in his relationships with women. The actor endearingly conveys the notion that they are mirror versions of each other. Because he's so good at playing the self-actualized James, we really believe in the jealousy Simon felt around him.
Ezra Miller's performance in The Flash
The Flash offers an interesting exploration of the concept of time travel and the multiverse. The hero, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller), finds himself able to run fast enough to travel through time. He tries to use this ability to save his deceased mother's life, but ends up stuck in the past, where he meets his college self. Now, the two Barries must find a way to restore the timeline to normal - and that will have to happen in the middle of their battle with the evil general Zod.
The actor skillfully accomplished the feat of playing two different versions of Barry without confusing the audience. Miller gives them unique personalities that make Barry #2 a goof-all "dude" who is always in awe of the superheroes he will be. Barry #1, meanwhile, is slightly more sophisticated and mature. A big part of the fun of the movie is watching Miller play against himself, especially when the two Barry Allen often argue with each other. When they finally put aside their differences and join forces against Zod, the union has real meaning.
Easter egg: Jackie Chan's performance in "Double Dragon Club".
Jackie Chan's performance in the 1992 film "Double Dragon Club" was a highlight of his acting career. In this film, co-directed by Tsui Hark and Lin Lingdong, Jackie Chan plays two twin brothers with very different personalities: Ma Youhe and Fatality. The film not only showcases Jackie Chan's talent for action design and comedic acting, but also tests his acting skills as he needs to portray two very different characters in the same movie.
Ma Yo is a suave classical musician, while Playing Death is a rugged, uninhibited martial arts actor. Jackie Chan successfully distinguishes between the two characters through precise performance details and body language, allowing the audience to clearly perceive the differences between them. He designed a more restrained and elegant demeanor for the horse, while the playfulness is typical of Jackie Chan's style, full of energy and improvisational humor.
In the film, due to a series of misunderstandings and adventures, the identities of the two brothers are reversed, which provides Jackie Chan with a stage to show his comedic talent. Not only did he continue to push the limits in action scenes, bringing exciting fights and chase scenes, but he also showed his versatility in literary drama.
Jackie Chan's performance in "Double Dragon Club" not only won the love of the audience, but also won the recognition of the industry. The film became a box office hit of the year, further cementing Jackie Chan's position in the international film industry. Through this film, Jackie Chan once again proved that he is not only an action superstar, but also an outstanding actor who can handle complex roles.
So, who else has a similar performance that stuns you?