The only thing better than landing one role in a major Hollywood production is landing two. It may seem odd, at first thought, that someone could or would play two roles in the same movie, but it actually happens pretty frequently. The phenomenon is especially common in comedies, where leading character actors fresh off Saturday Night Live tenures are anxious to show off their various silly voices on the big screen.
Sometimes actors will play their own twin, other times actors will play multiple small roles, yet at other times an actor will hog all the screen time and play the film's protagonist and antagonist simultaneously. While pulling off double duty to this degree takes a lot of work and talent, actors like Mike Myers and Kristen Wiig have performed this stunt to great effect.
Vote up your favorite examples of actors pulling double duty.
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The Actor: Mike Myers.
The Hero: Austin Powers is a superspy from the 1960s who is cryogenically frozen and woken up in the '90s to combat the return of Dr. Evil. Powers speaks in a thick British accent and is something of a bumbling idiot. Powers has a thick head of brown hair and dresses in bright suits that were apparently stylish in his original time period.
The Villain: Dr. Evil is a supervillain, also from the 1960s, who is attempting to wreak havoc in the modern world (or, at least, it was modern when the film was released in 1997). The main thing Powers and Dr. Evil have in common is they're both idiots, but physically speaking, they're pretty far apart. Dr. Evil dresses in a grey suit and has a bald head; he is prone to silly mannerisms and frequently lashes out at those around him.
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The Actor: Hugh Jackman.
The Hero: Hugh Jackman is known for portraying the superhero Wolverine throughout the X-Men franchise. In Logan, Jackman reprises the role, but at a very different time in the character's life. Logan has completely given up being a hero in the film and instead spends his time taking care of Charles Xavier and making sure he doesn't have any more accidentally destructive outbursts.
The Villain: X-24 is a clone of Logan. As a newly created clone, X-24 is much younger and, thus, more powerful than Logan. His youth combined with his complete lack of a moral compass allows X-24 to rack up quite the body count in the film. Sadly, that body count does include Logan himself. Jackman said he was initially skeptical about playing X-24, but in the end, he got on board and appreciated how it was the "externalization" of the animalistic rage inside Wolverine. Jackman also spoke on how he differentiated between the two characters and talked about the subtle physical differences - for instance, how he altered the bridge of his nose and wore contacts to play X-24.
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The Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Hero: Philippe is a prince who is banished at birth to live in the countryside so he doesn't grow up in competition with his brother. After his father's passing, Philippe is captured by his brother, imprisoned, and forced to wear an iron mask to disguise his identity.
The Villain: Louis is the identical twin brother of Philippe and the ruling king of France. He is ruthless and will do whatever it takes to get what he wants, including orchestrating the demise of the fiance of the woman he loves and locking up his own brother.
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The Actor: Peter Sellers.
The Hero: Group Captain Lionel Mandrake is one of the only people standing in the way of General Ripper trying to nuke Russia. Mandrake is a British officer who is operating under the American Air Force as part of an officer exchange, and in his time with the Americans, he certainly receives more than he bargained for. Somehow, though, faced with the end of the world, Mandrake manages to stay calm and actually almost saves the day.
The Villain: Dr. Strangelove is a former Third Reich scientist who uses a wheelchair and currently works for the Americans. As a science advisor to the president, Strangelove has the president's ear during the nuclear crisis. Strangelove uses his platform to pitch his plan to go underground and restart society with a chosen group of elite. Throughout his time on screen, Strangelove has to wrestle with his mechanical arm that divides its time between trying to choke him and trying to perform Nazi salutes.
Great dual performance?The Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch.
The Hero: Stephen Strange is a surgeon who loses the ability to perform surgery in a mishap and devotes his life to getting the use of his hands back. During his travels, he meets a mystic known as the Ancient One, and through her teachings, learns to harness magical abilities, eventually becoming the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth.
The Villain: Dormammu is an entity from the Dark Dimension who manifests in the film as a massive disembodied head in the middle of space. While Dormammu is a CGI creation, Cumberbatch did the facial motion capture for the character and recorded his voice (which was mixed with that of a few other voice actors to achieve the final result). It was actually Cumberbatch's idea to portray the character because he believed Dormammu should be a dark reflection of Strange.
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The Actor: Tom Hardy.
The Hero: An investigative journalist named Eddie Brock. Brock fuses with the Venom symbiote after refusing to stop investigating the Life Foundation.
The Villain: Venom is a symbiote that bonds with Brock. Venom has a mind of their own and can talk to Brock and take control of his body. Venom's voice is deep, raspy, and a little frightening. Unlike Brock, after he starts to freak out post-initial bonding, Venom is very self-assured and hard to frighten (without exposing one of their weaknesses). Hardy stated that the dual role and differences between the characters are the main reasons he agreed to work on Venom and that he always saw Venom "as sounding like a James Brown lounge lizard, and Eddie Brock is kind of... I don’t know, an everyday kind of guy."
Great dual performance?
