Oscar Watch: Dominic Cooper.

Dominic Cooper

By Jarett Wieselman

November 18, 2011

www.theinsider.com

While there is still a month and a half before the qualifying period for Oscar eligibility ends, there are already a handful of names being bandied about as "locks" for Best Actor.

George Clooney for The Descendants, Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar, Michael Fassbender for Shame, Ryan Gosling for Drive and Brad Pitt for Moneyball are just a few of the more notable names -- but I'm here to make sure Dominic Cooper's name A) becomes and B) stays a part of the conversation.
This year, he blew me away in The Devil's Double, an unfortunately little-seen movie where he plays dual roles: Uday Hussein, son of Saddam, and Latif Yahia, a doppelganger hired by the family to masquerade as Uday at various public functions.
The performances are so singularly unique, I was even more amazed that he would jump back and forth between the two personas throughout filming -- a fact this behind-the-scenes documentary on Movieline revealed to me.
Watch the snippet below and be sure to pick up The Devil's Double on DVD (out November 22) so you will understand why I plan to spend the next few months talking about Dominic's Double.