Thursday Movie Picks: Actors in Multiple Roles

A weekly series hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves

What's better than a great performance from an actor? Two great performances from the same actor. In the same movie. Which is exactly this week's theme. Okay, maybe we are not asked to pick great performances but that would be too easy, right? I mean, one could pick Adam Sandler for Jack and Jill and, I don't know, it just feels wrong. So, without further ado, here's my highlighting multiple performances from an actor in a film.

Adaptation. (2002)

Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) is hired to write an adaptation of a book called The Orchid Thief. But he suffers from writer's block so he comes up with the idea of writing a script about his inability to write the script. Nicolas Cage plays both Charlie and Donald Kaufman — yes, I know Donald Kaufamn is not a real person — and, honestly, he blew my mind as I was not expecting not one but two great performances from Cage. Also, this is a hell of a movie so if you haven't seen it already, please do. 

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

A US Air Force general (Sterling Hayden) loses his shit and sends his bomber wing to destroy the USSR and it's up to a room full of politicians to stop the upcoming nuclear war. Peter Sellers plays Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, President Merkin Muffley and Dr. Strangelove, and he's freaking amazing in all of them. As for the film, it is a tremendous satire of man's fears and delusions and makes fun of politicians and the whole military structure. My favourite Kubrick.

Suspiria (2018)

A young Amerian ballerina (Dakota Johnson) travels to Belin to attend a famous company which happens to be run by a coven of witches. She soon becomes the lead in the company's most important ballet, and in the meantime, a psychiatrist (Tilda Swinton) starts investigating the disappearance of a former student (Chloë Grace Moretz) at the company. Swinton plays both the psychiatrist, a man psychiatrist, and madame Blanc, one of the teachers and she is terrific. The film itself is really good too as Guadagnino managed to deliver such a nightmarish atmosphere.