4) Dominic Cooper In The Devil’s Double
The Devil’s Double made just a paltry worldwide total of $4.8 million, on a budget of $19 million, when it was released back in 2011. It makes sense – the film’s ‘star,’ Dominic Cooper, isn’t really a star, and certainly not someone to bank a whole movie on.
What audiences missed though by giving this bizarre Uday Hussein sort-of-biopic a wide berth was a turn by Cooper that by all means could have made him into a star.
Or, rather, two turns – Cooper plays both Hussein and his body double Latif Yahia, the Iraqi soldier who bore a likeness to Saddam’s son and was forced into the sociopathic playboy’s employ as his professional lookalike.
Lee Tamahori’s movie is an uneasy mix of black comedy and true-to-life horror, but Cooper excels as the innocent, cynical Yahia, and the unpredictable Uday, a monstrous figure he plays like a spoiled child who was never required to grow up.
Published: Nov 25, 2015 10:00 am