Dominic Cooper on The Devil's Double, Dual Roles and Finding the Fun in Uday Hussein

Did the technical and technological frustrations of acting opposite yourself influence the performance as either man, both of whom have a certain level of volatility?

No, it didn't. That's a really good question, actually. Frustrating as it was in certain moments, I knew what we were doing. I knew how difficult it was. Yes, things couldn't be achieved quickly. Yes, I was exhausted all the time. But I was so passionate about making it, and I was so involved with the creative input in a way I never had been before on a film set. It was such a collaboration of minds, though no one really understood what we were dealing with. It should have been a much bigger budget. There was one guy there operating our motion control camera. It's a big piece of equipment -- it's a complicated piece of equipment. And it didn't work! We couldn't get playback quick enough. So yeah, it was frustrating, but I didn't allow that in because it would be the wrong sensibility. His anger is fueled by deep-rooted, extreme mental issues. We were constantly trying to come up with new ways to understand what we embarking upon.

I much preferred doing the scenes without somebody else trying to do the other lines. They were asked to do it very neutrally, but that wasn't helpful. It also wasn't helpful with [a double] impersonating the scene the way I'd just done it. So I'd have to try to remember. It was difficult because I didn't have a sense as Uday of what my performance as Latif was going to be and how it would change the dynamics of a scene. The dynamics of a scene change completely if you're working with another actor.

I would think that singularity adds to the character as well, just because he's so imperious.

It does. Yeah. It would have been impossible if I'd had to play -- and sometimes this was the case -- Latif before Uday. You really didn't know what he was going to do. But you're completely right: He takes nothing in.

How fun is it to play a guy like Uday? As despicable as he is, everyone loves playing a villain.

It's incredible.

Do you feel like you're allowed to acknowledge that, considering the nature and history of the character?

I think I can, yes. It depends on how you say it. I never forgot how much I despised him and how disgusting he was. It doesn't make it any less exhilarating to play him as a character -- to have that freedom and that ability to have no restrictions. He had no restrictions, so therefore, I'd say, "This is what I've come up with. If it's too much, let's turn it down." But ultimately what I learned about him is that nothing is too much, so I could just be ferocious.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but you've spent the last few years playing characters who occupy various spots on the spectrum of vanity: Entitled thief in An Education. Smug rock star in Tamara Drewe. Swaggering corporate baron in Captain America. Uday freaking Hussein!

A hideous resume!

Not to conflate any of them, either, but what is it about this character element--

They're not very likable?

Well, Howard Stark is a nice enough guy.

Look, it's much more fun. They've got more depth to them. You play a likable guy -- the boyfriend, the romantic lead... It's enough to make me want to eat my toes. Of course you can find something exciting and dynamic in any character you want to portray. I am often fascinated by watching people like that. I hope you're not assuming it's got any of my own character traits in common.

Not at all. I just met you.

It might be how other people perceive me, perhaps. I hope I'm not like any of those. But it's fun to have those characters and try and make people have a fondness for them. That's what's fun. And [actors] have all sorts of guises and give off totally different aspects of a personality that's not true to them. And with almost all those people you just mentioned, I think there's something more challenging about making them -- in some way -- believable. That rock star was so verging on caricature, but they exist. They're people I know! They exist -- people who are that full of themselves and don't think anything exists beyond their world or their band. I don't know. Those are just the roles that have come my way, more than anything.

Finally: That poster. Did they actually paint you gold, or...

No!

What do you think of it?

I was quite shocked by it. I had very little in the way of input. But it's just creative genius. It says an awful lot about the film without any words. It says: Opulence. Danger. Gangster. It kind of sums the film up in a very clever way that posters rarely do.

But you're disguised -- concealed, for all intents and purposes, in this opulence, in this decadence. Does that undermine the sense of character -- or characters -- that runs so deep through The Devil's Double?

It's impossible. How would you do that?

I don't know how you'd play up the character angle, or if you'd even want to. I guess that's what I'm asking.

It's interesting. Well, let's think of what else it could be. Seeing them both on the poster? What message does that then send across. Without seeing them physically move and speak and hear, you'd probably just look at the poster and say, "Oh, they're just the same bloke." It might not be that effective. I'm just saying. I'm not a poster designer. I'm sure they tried it. My image of the poster -- which you always do in your head when you're making a film -- was... I don't know. You come up with all sort of things. It was them looking at each other, I suppose. But then it's still the same guy. In a still shot, it might not be as effective.

"Dominic Cooper is Latif Yahia is Uday Hussein in... The Devil's Double."

Yeah! [Shakes head] No.

The Devil's Double opens today in limited release, with added cities to come throughout August. Read Movieline's review here.

[Top photo: WireImage]

Pages: 1 2