Aspiring Filmmakers! Here’s How ‘The Double’ Cloned Jesse Eisenberg Without Use of Green Screen

With Richard Ayoade‘s second feature “The Double” slated for a May 9th release, the Creators Project decided to give us a behind-the-scenes look at how the film about doppelgängers was made. 

READ MORE: 10 Funny Quips and Highlights from Richard Ayoade’s Reddit AMA

Based on the novella by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Double” follows the passive Simon James (Eisenberg) who pines for Hannah, played by Mia Wasikowska. When his double, the much more confident James Simon is hired as a new employee in Simon’s company, things grow complicated. 

In the clip Ayoade speaks about the difficulties in making a film about doppelgängers and the necessity in finding an actor who can “balance both [the} Simon James’ and James Simon’s parts at once.” In addition to this, he discusses the technical process behind duplicating an actor on screen. 

What’s most fascinating about the technique is that it is nothing particularly new. In the video Ayoade mentions how he copied the techniques of George Meliés and Betty Davis to make the double. 

Executive producer Simon Whalley also mentions how the film was shot rotoscoping, not with any green screens of dazzling effects. Rotoscoping is a filmmaking process that enables filmmakers to trace over footage frame by frame. It’s what allows for the duplication. 

You can check out Ayoade speak more about making “The Double” in the Creator Project’s video below.