‘Devil’s Double’: When one actor takes on two roles in the same film

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Actor Dominic Cooper plays two roles in the new movie “The Devil’s Double”: Uday Hussein, the sadistic playboy son of Saddam Hussein, and Latif Yahia, whose resemblance to Uday landed him the unwanted job of his body double. Besides double vision, the movie may inspire a sense of déjà vu in viewers — after all, making an actor do double duty is a time-honored Hollywood tradition.

Often, the roles are twins: Hayley Mills played separated twins of divorced parents in Disney’s 1961 film “The Parent Trap,” while Margot Kidder took it to a whole new level as a woman shadowed by her psychotic former conjoined twin in Brian De Palma’s 1973 thriller “Sisters.” Jean-Claude Van Damme played twins who were separated when their parents died in 1991’s “Double Impact.” Jeremy Irons played twin gynecologists in 1988’s “Dead Ringers,” and thanks to digital face-replacement technology, Armie Hammer was able to portray the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, in last year’s “The Social Network.”

Later this year, moviegoers will get to see Adam Sandler play twins — a male and female set — in “Jack and Jill.” Check out our double vision gallery to see more.

RELATED:

Dominic Cooper does double duty in ‘Devil’s Double’

The most famous comedian in Spain will be Adam Sandler’s lover

Armie Hammer to play Winklevoss twins again -- on ‘The Simpsons’

— Mark Olsen