‘Dead Ringers’ Trailer: Rachel Weisz Is Double the Trouble in David Cronenberg Remake
What’s better than Rachel Weisz? Two Rachel Weiszes. The Oscar-winning actor is playing twins in Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming “Dead Ringers” series, and the streamer now has double the footage with the release of the full official trailer for the show.
The series is based on David Cronenberg’s 1988 psychological thriller film, which starred Jeremy Irons as Beverly and Elliot Mantle, identical twin brothers who run a successful OBGYN clinic. Weisz plays gender-flipped versions of Beverly and Elliot, but the twin’s disturbingly close relationship — down to sharing lovers and drugs — remains intact. The trailer, set to Soft Cell’s 1981 synth cover of “Tainted Love,” teases a very different storyline compared to the original film, focusing on the twin’s experiments to change the very way women can give birth — pushing against basic medical ethics in the process.
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“You want me to grow you a baby out of nothing?” one of the twins says in the trailer. “Bring it on! Let’s do the research, let’s make anything happen.”
The non-Mantle roles in the “Dead Ringers” ensemble will be played by Poppy Liu, Jennifer Ehle, Britne Oldford, Michael Chernus, and Emily Meade. Alice Birch, the writer behind the TV adaptations of the Sally Rooney novels “Normal People” and “Conversations With Friends,” created and wrote the series for Amazon. Sean Durkin, the director behind “The Nest” and this year’s “The Iron Claw” starring Zac Efron, directed the first two episodes of the series and co-directed the finale; additional directors include Karyn Kusama, Karena Evans, and Lauren Wolkstein.
Cronenberg himself appears to have no involvement in the “Dead Ringers” show; the body horror mastermind, whose most recent film “Crimes of the Future” premiered last year, will next direct supernatural drama “The Shrouds,” starring Vincent Cassel and Léa Seydoux.
In addition to starring, Weisz executive produces “Dead Ringers” for Astral Projection. The show is a co-production of Amazon Studios and Annapurna Television, and Ali Krug executive produces for Annapurna. James G. Robinson, David Robinson, and Barbara Wall executive produce for Morgan Creek, the production company behind the original “Dead Ringers” film. Birch and Durkin also executive produce with Stacy O’Neil, Sue Naegle, Erica Kay, Anne Carey, and Polly Stokes.
Watch the full trailer for the series below.
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