# One actor playing twins: how do they do it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2020, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655 "2020-08-09T15:37:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/21 "2020-08-10T04:28:14Z")
Probably the best known example of shots with a double. This must have brought the house down the first time it was screened! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/VKTT-sy0aLg/maxresdefault.jpg "The Mirror Scene - Duck Soup (7/10) Movie CLIP (1933) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKTT-sy0aLg) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/22 "2020-08-10T04:34:11Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > There was also a soap opera star, Deidre Hall of Days of our Lives, with the same scenario. Scarlett Johansson also has a twin. [But they haven’t been able to pull off any believable double scenes.](https://etcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/07464755.jpg?quality=80&strip=all) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/23 "2020-08-10T04:35:29Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > She was built quite a lot like Patty Duke-- but not exactly. It worked great in the first run of the show, but now you can rewind and slow down, and see that the “back of the head” actress was actually older, and a little less fit than Duke. Yes, but did a hot dog make her lose control? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/24 "2020-08-10T04:39:01Z")
In an episode of The Good Place entitled Janet(s), D’Arcy Carden played Janet playing every main character in the script. It was a tour de force. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/25 "2020-08-10T04:45:34Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > There was also a soap opera star, Deidre Hall of Days of our Lives, with the same scenario. > > Scarlett Johansson also has a twin. [But they haven’t been able to pull off any believable double scenes.](https://etcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/07464755.jpg?quality=80&strip=all) Linda Hamilton has an identical twin too. She was in some shots with her sister in _ **Terminator 2: Judgement Day.** _ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/G56LWBDPumM/hqdefault.jpg "Leslie Hamilton - Terminator II") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G56LWBDPumM) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/26 "2020-08-10T04:48:01Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Linda Hamilton has an identical twin too. She was in some shots with her sister in _ **Terminator 2: Judgement Day.** _ Needscoffee referred to that. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/27 "2020-08-10T04:49:13Z")
Yep, see post 10. I didn’t name the twin thing though, as it was a spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/28 "2020-08-10T04:50:28Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > There was also a soap opera star, Deidre Hall of Days of our Lives, with the same scenario. > > Scarlett Johansson also has a twin [But they haven’t been able to pull off any believable double scenes.](https://etcanada.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/07464755.jpg?quality=80&strip=all) Lol!! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/29 "2020-08-10T05:34:50Z")
I saw a live on stage play once where they did this! It was called “Bullshot Crummond”, a parody of the detective series Bulldog Drummond, at a playhouse in San Francisco, circa 1975. From the Wikipedia page: > **[Bullshot Crummond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshot_Crummond)** > > Bullshot Crummond is a parody stage play of the British pulp hero Bulldog Drummond. The play was based on an idea by Ronald E. House and Diz White, was written in 1974 and first performed that year, by House, White, John Neville-Andrews, Alan Shearman, and Derek Cunningham at the Palladium Theater, 1031 Kearny Street, San Francisco, California. > It was later made into a 1983 film, Bullshot. > The play concerns a pre-WWII plot by the dastardly Count Otto Von Brunno and his ambiguous relation Lenya ... > [@](#): > > The show is designed to be performed by only five actors, one of whom plays seven characters: Professor Fenton; Crummond’s friend Algy; a Chinese assassin; a local police officer; a waiter in a hotel restaurant; a one-armed Scotland Yard inspector (who is really one of Otto’s henchmen in disguise); and a Cockney crook. In addition, the actor playing Otto plays Salvatore Scalicio, a Chicago gangster, in a quick-change scene where he repeatedly switches between Otto and Salvatore. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/30 "2020-08-10T05:42:09Z")
ETA: The play has its own web site, with some pics: [http://www.lowmoan.com/bullshot/page1.html](http://www.lowmoan.com/bullshot/page1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/31 "2020-08-10T05:54:50Z")
> [@From the Bullshot Crummond Wiki page](#): > > In addition, the actor playing Otto plays Salvatore Scalicio, a Chicago gangster, in a quick-change scene where he repeatedly switches between Otto and Salvatore. Zowie! I just found there’s a YouTube of this scene, also showing the behind-the-scenes how they did it. (About 2 1/2 minutes long, relevant action starts at about 0:15) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sPSjJOBRudE/hqdefault.jpg "Bullshot Crummond - Fast Changes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPSjJOBRudE) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/32 "2020-08-10T06:12:43Z")
Aaron Ashmore was in the science fiction TV series _Warehouse 13_, and they had every intention of one day having an episode where there would be two of him, so they could bring on his twin brother Shawn to play him. Turns out the week they shot [that episode](https://warehouse13.fandom.com/wiki/Savage_Seduction) Shawn was unavailable, so they had to resort to VFX after all. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/33 "2020-08-10T09:01:12Z")
I haven’t found of a clip of it yet but IIRC the ST:TNG episode in which Riker discovers his transporter duplicate had a scene in which one walked around the other. I remember thinking at the time it was a well-done effect but that may be imperfect memory. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/34 "2020-08-10T10:06:36Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Yes, but did a hot dog make her lose control? Something did. She had some upper arm fat. Or maybe she just didn’t get to the gym enough. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/35 "2020-08-10T14:13:22Z")
Orphan Black has probably the most extensive and advanced “twin” tech in recent memory. Here’s a behind the scenes on how they do it. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yNfTJCwQ6ms/maxresdefault.jpg "ORPHAN BLACK Clones on Clones: Comic-Con Exclusive Making Of - BBC AMERICA") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNfTJCwQ6ms) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/36 "2020-08-10T19:59:35Z")
For _The Social Network_, in which Armie Hammer playing both of the Winklevi, they had a guy with the same build and hair color and style appear in scenes with him and, when both of their faces had to be seen at the same time, used CGI to “wrap” the head of the other guy with Armie’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/37 "2020-08-10T20:01:51Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Or the Addams Family, in which Carolyn Jones played Morticia Addams and her sister Ophelia. And Elizabeth Montgomery played both Samantha, and her cousin Serena ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2020, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/38 "2020-08-10T20:06:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > For _The Social Network_, in which Armie Hammer playing both of the Winklevi, they had a guy with the same build and hair color and style appear in scenes with him and, when both of their faces had to be seen at the same time, used CGI to “wrap” the head of the other guy with Armie’s face. Now that CGI is here, that approach certainly seems simpler than the method in mikecurtis’ excellent video, involving elaborate camera-movement-replication technology. Just copy & paste somebody’s face onto someone else’s body. (In Lord of the Rings, they used multiple practical effects to get the size differences between hobbits, dwarves and men – but in a few limited cases they had to impose a hobbit star’s face over a stand-in little person’s) ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/39 "2020-08-11T13:50:25Z")
They did the twin trick twice in Terminator 2. Don and Dan Stanton, both actors, played the hospital security guard and the T-1000. Don played the guard, Dan played the T-1000. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655/40 "2020-08-11T14:10:03Z")
Yeah - Orphan Black does the best job of this I’ve ever seen. I remember one scene where they had 4-5 of the same character dancing. The have them intentionally move around each other as to say, “See - no split screen.” I never really replayed and studied the scenes, but got the impression that one of the characters was the “main” one, which the others were added in around. They even have the characters hand things to each other. Really neat. I’l shocked when I see relatively modern shows that do a lousy job of this - such as obviously filming a double from behind who doesn’t really resemble the principal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-actor-playing-twins-how-do-they-do-it/917655.md?page=3)