Three of the main characters were the same actor, and yet there are shots with all of them in the same scene. When I saw this as a young adult I didn’t even notice that Mike Myers was playing three roles and was genuinely dumbfounded years later when I found out.
How did they do those scenes so seamlessly?
With mojo.
You should watch orphan black
Assuming it’s not just using body doubles which is the easiest way, usually you film the same actor twice with the camera left in place and then splice the two films together either by physically cutting and pasting the film or more recently with software. The software also has the advantage that it can blend things better, and fix lighting differences, and differences in film exposure which isn’t as big of an issue now with film quality being more consistent. Often in older films you can often see an obvious difference between the two shots.
There’s also some films where they take a much easier approach where they film one scene and then use a green screen for the second take. This allows for doing the takes at different times since the camera might get moved or other small changes that are difficult to work around in a single day and allows for multiple camera angles to be used more easily, but it can be difficult to get the aspect ratios and depth just right, so it often looks less natural if the first take has the character along the same or too similar of a plane of depth as the second.
I love this thread haha yay!
I guess you could say… that’s my bag… baby!
Wait 'till you find out that Hayley Mills isn’t a twin.
Who?
I was amused when I noticed her in the most recent M Night movie Trap.
This is not an endorsement of this movie. I just thought Parent Trap to Trap was an interesting career or maybe the title of her memoirs.
That was just cloning
Wow, dumbass kid I was I never realized he played both roles. I guess he did a great job acting.
Edit: also still trying to figure out who the third character the was, lol
Edit 2: oh, it’s Fat Bastard isn’t it.
He also played the aptly-named Goldmember.
Yes and the baby eating lines were ad libbed so the reaction is genuine, no one expected it.
Ed: Via rob lowe
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You forget he also played Goldmember in the third movie.
How did he gain and lose all that weight so fast to play both??
Fat Bastard
Ding - crazy good prosthetics, right?
Yeah, it occurred to me after I thought about his voice and that fake Scottish accent of his. Pre-Shrek Shrek.
What a terrible day to have eyes… lol
Compositing has been a thing for, like, forever, going from cutting and gluing film together to, well, having lookalike instead of the real actor in certain shots…
I’m mostly weirded by how you found out only now. I guess go and have fun looking up “Captain Disillusion” youtube channel.
I love Captain D, the way he takes apart a scene in Blender is an art form in itself.
I guess the question I’m asking is, normally when editing comes into play you can sort of notice it through one way or another. There’s an uncannyness to it that makes it jarring, whereas in Austin Powers I never once clocked on that I was watching the same person. Did they use really sophisticated techniques for this? Was the campiness and comedic tone of the film itself a good distraction from any editing goofs?
If it was a more sombre film, would I notice it more I wonder?
Edit: @Aurenkin mentions the ping-pong scene in the 2019 Moon film, which has a more mature tone and the editing there was definitely flawless.
Here’s a Captain Disillusion VFXcool episode about this special effect, specifically as applied to Back to the Future (which innovated having a split screen with a moving camera): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhNDsPMaK_A
Was the campiness and comedic tone of the film itself a good distraction from any editing goofs?
That really helps by distracting the viewer away from the small give aways.
They also did a really good job with the interactions and editing so it flows smoothly.
I personally have never noticed flaws when such tecniques are employed, but it may be just immersion doing its job. I’ve never heard of Austin Power being singled out for its special effects…
Red Dwarf was doing same actor multiple roles for a long long time. There are many episodes to check out, but one of the best examples is Stasis Leak (3 of each character on screen), another good example is Me2 (Rimmer and Rimmer). They were doing this in 1988.
Corridor Crew is also an excellent YouTube channel for industry professionals commenting on how effects are done
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With a gun, I assume
But to be serious the same way they shot freaky Friday and all those other twin movies. One person two different scenes splice it together
I have nothing to add, I just had no idea! I had to look it up, I almost didn’t believe you 😂
I’m not putting anyone down, but I am genuinely amazed that this many people were unaware. If you asked me how many people who watched weren’t aware, I’d have guessed like less than .01%.
I was a kid, and a dumb one lol I’ve confused actors just because they changed their hair. In the same movie. I’m just not good with faces 😂
Cloned him by using his Mojo.
That or the magic of scene blocking and editing.
I think they shot it with cameras.
Just wanted to say I would love an Austin Powers 4, honestly, I loved the series growing up.
So, back in the day they used a really simple camera trick called a double exposure.
https://abeautifulmess.com/how-to-shoot-a-double-exposure-in-camera/
https://www.wired.com/video/watch/design-fx-inside-orphan-black-s-amazing-visual-effects
If you haven’t seen it, “Orphan Black” is a BBC show about a group of clones being hunted down by their creators.
One actress played about 20 different roles in the series; and there were a few scenes where all the clones were in the same room together.
Great show and a masterclass in acting.
Orphan Black was great. The most insane part was how you could tell which character was pretending to be another character even though they look the same. Tatiana Maslany did fantastic work on that show.
Look up “Visual FX Artists React” on YouTube. And Captain Disillusion. You’ll learn A TON about stuff like this from them!
Oh, today I learned, I suppose.
