Prime Video’s new series Dead Ringers reimagines David Cronenberg’s 1988 twisted psychological thriller as a female-powered tale starring Rachel Weisz in a double role as the infamous Mantle twins. The words used to describe the Marcuses by even the most psychologically unsophisticated — words like “remote,” “distant,” “icy” — are the classical language used in psychiatric textbooks to describe schizoid personalities. Although some years ago Cyril, when married, displayed photographs of his children in his office, and Stewart was known to talk admiringly of their doctor-father, in the last few years of their life they seem to have felt connected to no one, except, perhaps, to each other. They had always been extraordinarily close and had shared, in their adolescence in Bayonne, New Jersey, and their college days at Syracuse University, the same aspirations, achievements, and goals. Sometimes this caused distress in people around them. The Marcuses seem to have found in their twinship a proof of specialness, of their unique importance in a world of singletons. Jean Baer, writer and author with her psychologist husband, Dr. Herbert Fensterheim, of the recent book on assertiveness training Don’t Say Yes When You Want to Say No, was a patient of Stewart’s until just a year ago. “Most of the time I saw him, I was working full time as well as writing. My time was very important to me. I’d developed the habit — when it came to doctors and dentists — of always calling their offices prior to setting out from my home for appointments, just to be certain they weren’t running late. Several times when I’d call before an appointment with Marcus, the secretary there would tell me, ‘Yes, he will be free in 15 minutes,’ and so I’d leave my office and get up there, but when I’d arrive, he’d be nowhere to be seen. And it wasn’t as if the secretary had made a mistake. I could see she was embarrassed. She had no idea where he was. She’d just been told to answer calls that way. I’d have to wait and eventually he’d show up. But worse, once I needed him in an emergency and the secretary told me he never left a number where he could be reached.” Weisz: Always for television. From the beginning. The film is perfect and iconic and we wouldn’t be interested in trying to redo it in any way. We wanted to do something else. It was about finding a new form for it. Identical twins Elliot and Beverly Mantle are gynecologists who jointly operate a highly successful clinical practice in Toronto that specializes in treating fertility problems. Elliot, the more confident and cynical of the two, seduces women who come to the Mantle Clinic. When he gets tired of them, the women are passed on to the shy and passive Beverly while the women remain unaware of the substitution.

There is one essential of personality that emerges in all these accounts, whether they deal with the twins’ closeness, their feelings about their twinship, or their awe of each other. It is that they were frequently hostile, even hurtful, to their women patients. Curiously, in view of their ultimate gaunt condition, they often seemed to insult women about their weight. The woman who gave birth to twins had been told she was fat; still, she was heavy at the time and she felt that the insult had been just, if cruel. But another woman who was five feet, eight inches tall and weighed, toward the end of her pregnancy, 155 pounds — a gain of only 20 pounds over her normal weight — was told by Cyril, “You’re disgustingly obese.” Cronenberg, David (2006). David Cronenberg: Interviews with Serge Grünberg. Plexus Publishing. ISBN 0859653765. Carr, Jay (January 9, 1989). "National Critics Choose 'Lightness' ". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 9, 2016 . Retrieved April 11, 2017.In his DVD commentary, Irons claims that Robert De Niro declined playing the Mantles due to his unease with the subject matter and portraying gynecologists, while William Hurt decided to reject the parts because "it is hard enough to play one role". [14] The film marked the screen debut of actress Jill Hennessy and her twin sister Jacqueline, who play call girls in a scene. Weisz: It’s a place that is led by the writer and the showrunner, it’s a unique space in the sense that the writer has creative control. It’s a new era.

Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on June 25, 2016 . Retrieved April 11, 2017. At the same time, the brothers seem to have feared alienating each other. Or at least Stewart feared alienating Cyril. A woman who was Cyril’s patient and grew to dislike his personality nevertheless felt that the Marcus twins had an expertise with women who had previously miscarried and now wanted to give birth. On one occasion she recommended such a friend to Stewart, explaining to her friend that she was sure she would not be able to bear Cyril’s icy mannerisms. The friend called Stewart and said she had been recommended to him by a patient of Cyril’s. Stewart refused to see her. “I can’t take patients away from my brother,” he explained. The woman argued with him. “I am not Cyril’s patient; my friend was Cyril’s patient and she has recommended you.” Stewart, this woman recalled, “grew apoplectic and he said he would never see my friend or me.”Weisz: A twisted psychosexual thriller about co-dependent twins and their obsession with each other, but also with some dark humour.

Birch: Rachel joined the writers’ room as a storyteller. It was really wonderful to have her in the room along with the writers. BD Horror News - The Top 10 'True-Story' Horror Movies of All-time!". Bloody-disgusting.com. June 7, 2008. Archived from the original on November 15, 2019 . Retrieved February 23, 2011. Eventually I left off seeing him. This was about eight years ago. I had found him/them distant, remote, incapable of or unwilling to engage in discussion or explanation. Hardly what one wants in a doctor. His/their reputations were good. They were among the few surgeons to have perfected the “purse string,” an operation that helped women who had difficulty carrying a fetus to full term. They were said, also, to be the best gynecologists in town — in those days — at inserting with a minimum of pain the then still new IUD’s — intrauterine devices. But communication with him/them was so often difficult that I finally realized that reputation was, for me, less important than responsiveness. urn:lcp:twinsnovel00wood:epub:424c61d3-2466-49aa-880f-52226a0d94dd Foldoutcount 0 Identifier twinsnovel00wood Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t0zp51g1f Isbn 0451159896 The film won numerous honors, including for Irons' performance, and 10 Genie Awards, notably Best Motion Picture. Toronto International Film Festival critics have ranked it among the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time.Birch: The first kind of motion control was developed on the original Dead Ringers film. And actually somebody who worked on the motion control on Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers did the subtitle design for our TV show. Weisz: Very much so. Even in the writers’ room, we talked about that a lot. Alice always noted about the film: “They’re having such a good time, the Irons brothers.” They have a martini glass in their hand, they go to a party. We really wanted to really sustain that fun …until things go wrong. They’re at the top of their game professionally, they’re living their best lives. It’s dysfunctional and bizarre but they’re having a great time. Alice wrote this tone of dark humour into the dialogue which is so brilliant. The 25 scariest movies of all time". Entertainment Weekly. February 19, 2011. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018 . Retrieved February 23, 2011.

But Terrell had reasons beyond the nose on his face to suspect that there was a dead man — or two dead men — in the apartment. Once before he had been called upon to break open the door to 10H. It is his story of this event that makes the death of the Marcuses seem not just a sudden inexplicable tragedy but a tragedy with long, concealed roots. That other time, about three years ago, Terrell had been passing by 10H on his way from a repair job in a nearby apartment when he heard a buzzing sound within. It sounded like a phone off the hook. He thought nothing of it until, several hours later, he had cause to be on the tenth floor once again, passed 10H, and once again heard the buzzing. This time he rang the doorbell and began to pound loudly on the door. When no one answered his noises, Terrell says, he got the phone number of Cyril’s brother Stewart and telephoned him at his office. Terrell said to Stewart, “There’s something not quite kosher at your brother’s place. I think your brother needs help.” Director Peter Greenaway claims that Cronenberg queried him about his film A Zed & Two Noughts for two hours before going on to make Dead Ringers eight months later. [15]Howe, Desson (September 23, 1988). "Dead Ringers". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017 . Retrieved April 12, 2017. Mark Irwin was meant to perform the cinematography for the film, but during the production delay he took a job in the United States and was replaced by Peter Suschitzky. The film's title was changed from Twins due to a request from Ivan Reitman to avoid confusion with his film Twins. [13]