The Double
Short description
The Double centres on Simon, an unassuming office worker whose life is marked by being overlooked at his job and unnoticed by the woman he wants to be with. His routine is disrupted when a new colleague arrives: James, who looks exactly like Simon but carries himself with a confidence Simon lacks. While no one else appears to register the resemblance, James quickly becomes popular around the office, and Simon watches as his double seems to move in on the life he has been unable to claim for himself.
The film is a loose contemporary take on Dostoevsky's novella of the same name, set in a bleak, vaguely futuristic bureaucracy. Richard Ayoade directed from a screenplay he wrote with Avi Korine, following his 2011 debut Submarine as his second feature. Jesse Eisenberg plays both Simon and James, with Mia Wasikowska as Hannah, the co-worker Simon pines for, alongside Wallace Shawn, Yasmin Paige, Noah Taylor and James Fox in supporting roles. Produced in the United Kingdom by Protagonist Pictures, Film4, the BFI and Alcove Entertainment, it runs 93 minutes.
The film drew modest audiences, taking about 2 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.4 from roughly 55,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.5 from around 1,120 votes. A critics' rating of 6.9 from 131 reviews places it slightly above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming began on May 20, 2012, and took place in an abandoned office on the outskirts of London. Location shooting was done only at night, while the remaining indoor scenes were filmed during the day.
- The film is based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novella "The Double" (1846).
- The first line spoken by Yasmin Paige's character is "Idiot!", which is the title of Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel.
- In 1996, Roman Polanski wanted to film a movie based on the same Fyodor Dostoevsky novel, also titled "The Double". The leading roles were to be played by John Travolta, Isabelle Adjani, John Goodman, and Jean Reno. Filming was scheduled to begin in Paris in June 1996. However, a few days before the start of filming, Travolta left the project after a disagreement with Polanski over changes to the script. Shortly thereafter, work on the film was halted.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
