The Devil's Double PreviewIGN visits the set of the intriguing new film about Saddam Hussein's son.
IGN's exclusive still features Ludivine Sagnier as Sarrab and Dominic Cooper as Uday Hussein.
by Joe Utichi, IGN UK
UK, April 7, 2010 - 1980s Baghdad. More specifically, a lavish nightclub in '80s Baghdad; the clothes, the music, the gold Rolex-wearing sheiks. On the level below, a dozen heavily made-up and permed Iraqi women in tiny mini-skirts are dancing to some electro dance beat. Upstairs, in the VIP area, all attention is focused on one man - Saddam Hussein's son Uday - as he drinks and dances with a bevy of impossibly attractive girls. His bodyguards, armed to the teeth, keep a close watch. This is his world, and everyone else in the building is here to please him.
IGN has come to this opulent scene 30 years after the fact, eerily recreated on the set of a new film, The Devil's Double, not in Iraq but on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta. This is an Iraq we've never seen before; one of astounding excess and expense and a far cry from the sandblasted, shredded buildings, large tanks and loud explosions we've come to expect from films set in this area of the globe. This is less The Hurt Locker, more Scarface.
And, by all accounts, this is the Iraq that news cameras failed to spot during the first Gulf War. In fact, it's an Iraq that never existed beyond the boundaries of the country's first family: a picture of the divide between the immoderation of Saddam's Ba'athist ruling class and the overwhelming poverty of his subjects.
The Devil's Double of the title is Latif Yahia, whose unfortunate physical similarity to Uday Hussein results in him being kidnapped and forced to work as his body double. We discover this world as he does, plucked from his modest station as a private in the Iraqi army and then coached in the lavish lifestyle of Saddam's son.
Instructed to make public appearances where the risk of assassination was too great - or the distractions of partying too enticing - for the real Uday, he's forced to risk his life in service to the Husseins' regime.
What's most astonishing is that this is based on a true story. An autobiography of the same name by Yahia - now living far from his home country - provides the backdrop for the tale, which is directed by Die Another Day helmer Lee Tamahori. Dominic Cooper plays dual roles, as Uday and Latif, while French actress Ludivine Sagnier is Uday's concubine, and Latif's secret lover, Sarrab.
"I've always been fascinated by the sons of dictators and despots," explains Tamahori when IGN catches him during brief break from the film's tight schedule. "They usually die in a hail of blood. They're guys with an immense amount of power and an enormous amount of money. They can do anything they like. In fact, we're telling a soft story compared to what I've heard about this guy."
But, he explains, this is really Yahia's story. "At its core we have an innocent man, a kidnap victim who's dragged into this, which is equally compelling. So you've got these two playing off each other. I met the real Latif, and I said, 'I'm not making a film of your story. I'm telling a different story, about a psychopath and an innocent guy who's caught up with him.' He understands that."
For Cooper, the importance is in the audience understanding Latif's struggle. "This story is so full of such monstrosity and awful violence that you need to see Latif as a kind man in a terrible situation with no alternative," he explains. "And he's ultimately prepared to sacrifice his own life because he knows how horrendous it is and the effect that the person he's doubling for is having on other people."
But for the film's Yahia, the world Uday inhabits is not without its charms. "There are great little scenes where he's offered luxury cars and things and I think he does get rather tempted by them," explains Cooper. "The stories I hear of [Uday]; he was in charge. No one fucked with him. No one crossed him, no one said anything against him, and he had no boundaries. With all the money you could ever desire and all the drugs you'd ever want, he had everything. They were a bunch of rock stars and they did what they wanted to do."
Dominic Cooper, looking very Scarface in The Devil's Double.
"It's a real bandit movie, a real gangster movie in Iraq," says Tamahori. "Dom's an actor who's got huge amounts [of energy]. But we've got to watch the physical nature of it because he's going at it every day. It's going to wear him out, so we've got to be really careful. It's just ruthless."
The challenge for the actor is in balancing the two extremes of personality in the dual roles of Latif and Uday. "Every level of it is completely mesmerizing," he explains. "I am finding it tough to constantly switch between the two of them."
The physical torment of the shoot is clearly taking its toll. Our day on set is long, and since both characters are in these scenes, everything must be shot twice. In the morning he's Latif Yahia and after a quick lunch he emerges from the costume trailer as Uday Hussein. When he finally sits down with IGN towards the end of the day, he's exhausted by it all.
Tamahori, for his part, doesn't seem to be working any less tirelessly. He darts around the set every minute, pausing behind the camera only to call "Action," on a shot.
"I'm always like that," he laughs when we point out that we've rarely seen a director so animated. "I'm a pretty active director; I like to be up with my actors, not stuck behind monitors. We're pushing ourselves to the limit everyday. We're trying to do high quality on moderate to low budget. But we have a great crew and a fabulous cast and we're making it work."
The Devil's Double is a look at some of the darkest, and least often reported, elements of the Hussein regime. But it's not the heavily politicised Iraq movie most have come to expect, and it seems clear the emphasis is on creating a truly entertaining experience against the backdrop of a fascinating story. The results will hopefully speak for themselves when the film is released next year.
