Dead Ringers Star Britne Oldford on Reimagining the David Cronenberg Classic
Filmmaker David Cronenberg is largely known for his more boundary-pushing endeavors in the realm of sci-fi, but his 1988 film Dead Ringers explores more humanistic themes than his other efforts, with the new Prime Video reimagining of that story similarly diving deep into those more vulnerable themes. While there's surely some unsettling elements of the new TV series, star Britne Oldford pointed out how the narrative centering around ideas of motherhood, reproduction, and love bring with it some touching opportunities to embrace during production. All six episodes of Dead Ringers premiere on Prime Video on Friday, April 21st.
When asked by ComicBook.com about memories of production that left a significant impact on her, Oldford expressed, "I think it was the first two weeks of shooting, for me, and we were filming the first episode, the scene where I'm meeting Beverly Mantle for the first time, and who I presume to be Beverly Mantle. That scene, in particular, everyone was still getting to know each other and it was a very safe and wonderful environment, but these scenes in the hospital, they're very, very intimate, vulnerable scenes, and they're experiences that I experience in my daily life as a woman."
She continued, "And so understanding that I was portraying this and even just on set the crew having a look into this experience, a lot of them for the first time, dawned on me how impactful and important what we were doing was. Not that I didn't already feel that way, but it really sunk in that day, and I left and I went home and reflected on that, and it honestly made me more stoked to be a part of it."
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.
One of the more unsettling elements of Dead Ringers is that Beverly and Elliot are known to take the place of one another in a variety of situations, including deceptive encounters in which Oldford's Genevieve doesn't always know who she's interacting with. This meant that, despite falling in love with Beverly, Genevieve had to come to terms with the siblings potentially being able to exploit the situation.
"I think that Genevieve was wearing rose-colored glasses, and I do think that being in love can really shift your thinking," Oldford shared of her character's trust in her partner. "And I do wholeheartedly believe that she thought that there was no way that anyone would betray her, and she's a very trusting, loyal person, or character that I created. And so yeah, I think she thinks everything's pretty above board."
With Weisz pulling double duty, Oldfrod explained the sometimes confusing process of actually bringing such a story to life.
"There definitely were times when everyone on set had to take a second and remember, because Rachel and Kitty Hawthorne, who played her body double, they were in the scenes all the time," the actor confessed. "And even though the hair is slightly different and the wardrobe was different, sometimes it would take us a second to remember when they switched over, because both of them played both roles, who was doing what and when and then the blocking and like, 'Oh, am I going towards Kitty? Or I'm going towards Rachel?' And it was always a funny moment recalibrating to get into it again, for sure."
All six episodes of Dead Ringers premiere on Prime Video on Friday, April 21st.
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