Dead Ringers Stars Discuss Exploring New Perspectives on the Seminal Sci-Fi Story

Landing on Prime Video later this week is a new take on David Cronenberg’s 1988 film Dead Ringers, but rather than being a straightforward revival of the original storyline, this project pivots from a tale of two identical male twins and instead delivers two female twins, which brings with it all-new storytelling opportunities. In addition to the series shifting perspectives within the narrative, the series had an all-female writers’ room, which stars Jennifer Ehle and Emily Meade noticed in all elements of the production, thanks to various nuances in bringing the story to life. Dead Ringers premieres on Prime Video on April 21st.

“I thought about it and I felt it in everything,” Meade shared with ComicBook.com about the female-driven scripts. “In the writing, in the cast. Everyone besides Sean Durkin was a female director. The crew was … It was my first time working with a female camera op, which is crazy. So there were so many more women on set than I’ve ever been around. And the script, I mean, the amount of scripts I’ve read that are very clearly written by men about women, like men who have definitely not gone through childbirth or had a baby, just little details of like, you would not let your kid do that, or whatever it is. No maternal instinct, too. I think, if this was written by a man, I don’t even know it would be a very different thing, but I absolutely felt it. I felt it in the nuance. I felt there were really visceral, specific, firsthand experiences, not just in the birthing areas, but just in being a woman.”

Ehle added, “The fact that the women are written as human beings, multifaceted, flawed, dark, selfish, altruistic, compassionate, as everything. Whereas I think, often historically in cinema, women have played less parts, have been a smaller part of the story overall, and often their function is to be the warmth, or the empathy, or the love interest or the sex [iobject], or just pretty, or vulnerable, or needing to be saved, the damsel. And so to have a story populated with human beings who happen to be women was really great, for want of a better word.”

A modern take on David Cronenberg’s 1988 thriller starring Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers will feature Rachel Weisz playing the double-lead roles of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything: drugs, lovers, and an unapologetic desire to do whatever it takes — including pushing the boundaries of medical ethics — in an effort to challenge antiquated practices and bring women’s health care to the forefront.   

The characters played by Meade and Ehle, much like many other figures, exist in a morally grey area, with the performers addressing what drew them to these roles.

“The project itself, the people involved, the subject, the script was obviously a reason to come either way,” Meade expressed. “The character was — I’d never seen a character like that, and she was really right up my alley in this way of being this twisted person that you don’t know if she’s good or bad, or innocent or complicit, or creepy or cute. Any character that feels like a child in an adult’s body is something that I really like playing with.”

She added, “I wouldn’t say my behavior or personality is similar to Susan, but I feel like some of the driving motives of wanting love, or to belong, or turning the dial on my intelligence up or down, depending on where I am. But yeah, and I’ve played a lot of tragic characters and it was really also just exciting for me to see somebody just so different, and strange, and funny in a very atypical, strange way. I really fell in love with her right away.”

Ehle similarly resonated with the complicated motivations of her character.

“I think she has a sweet spot that I, like the child in the adult body, I really do love it if I can find or if there’s something in a character where the character finds ways to entertain themselves,” Ehle expressed. “I think that’s a nice sweet spot for me to try to find in a character. I felt like Rebecca had that a lot. It was written in, it seemed, so I really enjoyed playing with that. I just think the writing, there really wasn’t that much discussion, or there was no rehearsing or anything. It was just when something is this well written and this extraordinary group of actors that you get to work with, and Sean Durkin’s a wonderful director, it just happens.”

Dead Ringers premieres on Prime Video on April 21st.

Are you looking forward to the series? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!