Lee Tamahori

THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: December 2nd, 2011 at 8:39 am

What’s fascinating about The Devil’s Double is that Dominic Cooper gets to give two performances – often playing against each other – that are of such different pitches it’s as if the whole movie existed solely as an actor showcase. On one hand he’s playing Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein and a Caligula-in-training who likes having sex with schoolgirls and killing people. And then he’s also playing Latif Yahia, the man who looks enough like Uday to be hired (under protest) by Uday to be his body double. It’s Cooper’s movie and he nails it. The film itself (directed by Lee Tamahori) is a bit tired and formulaic, with interesting notes here and there, and a good whore with a heart of something performance by Ludivine Sagnier, but it’s hard not to walk away dazzled by its star but not the movie. Our review of the Blu-ray of The Devil’s Double follows after the jump.

LAFF 2011: THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE Review; Update on THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE Reboot

by Hunter Daniels    Posted: June 22nd, 2011 at 1:36 pm

Monday night The Los Angeles Film Festival hosted a special screening of Lee Tamahori’s new “Iraqspolitation” film, The Devil’s Double followed by an after party at the Ritz Carlton hotel populated by numerous celebrity impersonators as well as real life celebrities. Collider was on hand to see the film and scope out the festivities.

While at the party, I spoke briefly to Twisted Pictures co-owner and Saw producer Mark Burg about his upcoming reboot of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise. “It’s going great,” said Burg. “We start shooting July 18^th.” When asked about Bill Moseley’s connection to the film Burg hesitated, saying that the ink wasn’t dry on the contract. He did however confirm that if Moseley is in the film, which looks very likely, he will not be reprising his role as Choptop from 1986’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Part 2 but instead playing an entirely new character.  Read on for a review of The Devil’s Double.

First Trailer for THE DEVIL’ S DOUBLE

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 25th, 2011 at 5:15 pm

The first trailer for The Devil’s Double has been released. The film stars Dominic Cooper in the dual roles of Saddam Hussein’s sadistic son Uday and Uday’s body-double Latif Yahia. The trailer definitely looks interesting, and Steve himself caught the film at Sundance and thought it was great, calling it “batshit crazy.” I like the vibe of the flick that the trailer suggests, and can’t wait to see more.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The Devil’s Double opens July 29th. Click here to read Steve’s interview with Cooper about the film.

Sundance 2011: Director Lee Tamahori Exclusive Video Interview THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 27th, 2011 at 8:15 pm

One of the many films to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was director Lee Tamahori’s The Devil’s Double.  The film’s loosely based on the life of Latif Yahia and his interaction with Uday Hussein (Saddam Hussein’s son).  Yahia is rumored to have been Uday’s body double and supposedly had plastic surgery to make his appearance even more realistic.  In the film, Dominic Cooper plays both Hussein and Yahia and he does an incredible job playing both characters and brings each to life in a unique way.  While the story of Latif Yahia was never proven to be true, Tamahori has taken the premise and created a new type of gangster film.  The constant in every gangster film is eventually the cops will get involved.  But in this story, Hussein is the son of the man who runs the country, and he literally has the freedom to do anything he wants.  The other thing to know about Hussein in The Devil’s Double is that he’s a raging psychopath that tortured and raped young women, killed people without warning, and treated everyone around him like play things that were there for his amusement.

Again, if you’re looking for a factually accurate film about the fall of Iraq, this isn’t it.  But if you’re a fan of gangster films, excessive violence, and a crazy story that’s never been told on screen, I definitely recommend The Devil’s Double.  I thought it was great.

Anyhow, a few days ago I sat down with director Lee Tamahori and we talked about how the project came together, making the film look more expensive than it actually is, the gangster genre, casting Dominic Cooper, what it’s like being at Sundance, editing the movie, his next film (a Western based on the Witi Ihimaera book Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies) and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch:

Dominic Cooper Exclusive Video Interview for THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE at Sundance

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 26th, 2011 at 7:45 pm

One of the many films to premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival was director Lee Tamahori’s The Devil’s Double.  The film’s loosely based on the life of Latif Yahia and his interaction with Uday Hussein (Saddam Hussein’s son).  Yahia is rumored to have been Uday’s body double and supposedly had plastic surgery to make his appearance even more realistic.  In the film, Dominic Cooper plays both Hussein and Yahia and he does an incredible job playing both characters and brings each to life in a unique way.  While the story of Latif Yahia was never proven to be true, Tamahori has taken the premise and created a new type of gangster film.  The constant in every gangster film is eventually the cops will get involved.  But in this story, Hussein is the son of the man who runs the country, and he literally has the freedom to do anything he wants.  The other thing to know about Hussein in The Devil’s Double is that he’s a raging psychopath that tortured and raped young women, killed people without warning, and treated everyone around him like play things that were there for his amusement.

Again, if you’re looking for a factually accurate film about the fall of Iraq, this isn’t it.  But if you’re a fan of gangster films, excessive violence, and a crazy story that’s never been told on screen, I definitely recommend The Devil’s Double.  I thought it was great.

Anyhow, a few days ago I sat down with Dominic Cooper here at Sundance to talk about how he got involved in the film and what it was like to make it.  We talked about the challenges of playing two characters, the really high production values (the film looks like a big budget Hollywood film), what it’s like being at Sundance, can he watch himself on screen, what he wants to do in the future, his role as Milton Greene in My Week With Marilyn, and so much more.  Hit the jump to watch:

SUNDANCE 2011: First Images from THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE Starring Dominic Cooper and LIFE IN A DAY, the World’s Largest User-Generated Feature-Film

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 27th, 2010 at 9:37 am

Continuing our coverage of films that will be featured at the Sundance film festival in January, today we bring you two films that will premiere in the out-of-competition category at the prestigious festival: The Devil’s Double and Life in a Day. The Devil’s Double stars Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Mimoun Oaissa, Raad Rawi, and Phillip Quast. The film provides a chilling vision of the House of Saddam, told through the eyes of the man who knew too much.

Director Kevin MacDonald’s Life in a Day is a historical worldwide experiment to create the world’s largest user generated film. The flick was created by numerous user-generated YouTube videos that professional and amateur filmmakers made to capture a glimpse of their life in a single day. Hit the jump to check out images and a brief synopsis for both films, which will be playing out-of-competition.  The 2011 Sundance Film Festival runs from January 20 -30th.

AFM Coverage: New Images, Posters and Synopses for THE HORSEMAN, THE CUP, THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE, More

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 pm

By now you’ve probably noticed that Steve got an ungodly amount of material from this year’s American Film Market (AFM).  The place where buyers and sellers do business to bring you the films you’ll hopefully be seeing in the near future, AFM has tons of artwork and synopses which are used to promote films but which we will use to bring you news on these films.

Below you’ll find images and synopses for From Time to Time, Love Hurts, The Cup, The Devil’s Double, The Horseman, The Steal Artist and Wedding Bros. Hit the jump to check them all out. Also, all the synopses are copied down directly from the original materials with no editorial alterations. You can read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 by click on their respective links.

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