The Devil's Double
Short description
In 1987 Baghdad, army lieutenant Latif Yahia is summoned to one of Saddam Hussein's palaces and given an order he cannot refuse: become the body double, or fiday, of the dictator's eldest son, Uday. If he declines, his family will be killed. Latif is trained to copy Uday's walk and speech and is drawn into the life of a man whose recklessness, corruption and violence have made him widely feared and hated. Uday meanwhile pursues money, possessions and women without restraint, and the double is expected to absorb the danger that comes with it.
Lee Tamahori directed the film, which was written by Michael Thomas with Latif Yahia as co-writer and produced by Paul Breuls, Catherine Vandeleene and Norton Herrick. Dominic Cooper plays both Latif and Uday, with Ludivine Sagnier as Sarrab, Raad Rawi as Munem and Philip Quast as Saddam Hussein. It was released in 2011, arriving in Tamahori's filmography after Next and before The Convert.
On a budget of about 19 million US dollars, the film took roughly 6 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 5.7 rating from 102 reviews, while on TMDB it has 6.7 from 628 votes, so the audience score sits noticeably above the critics' one.
What's left behind the scenes
- Filming took place in Malta, where (unlike Iraq) traffic is left-handed, so cars with right-hand drive were used in the film, which does not correspond to the realities of Iraqi life.
- After Mosul was declared its capital in 2014, ISIS's propaganda department invited Lee Tamahori to present the film in Mosul. But the flight to Istanbul was canceled due to bad weather.
- The film is based on Latif Yahia's autobiographical novel 'The Devil's Double' (2003).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
