10 Movie Special Effects Nobody Believed

4. The Winklevoss Twins - The Social Network

The Special Effect

Rather than cast a set of identical twins to play the "Winklevi" in The Social Network, David Fincher made the baffling decision to cast Armie Hammer in both roles, using CGI to have him play Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

This was achieved by having actor Josh Pence act as a stand-in for Tyler Winklevoss on set, while Hammer would play Cameron.

In scenes where Pence wasn't required to do much, Hammer's face was digitally pasted over his, and for scenes demanding expressive movement and actual acting, a second take of Hammer performing the scene was blended through relatively simple split-screen trickery.

Why Nobody Believed It

For starters, the effect is completely convincing and, given that most people had no idea who Armie Hammer was in 2010, there was no reason for audiences to believe they were watching anything other than real twin actors.

Viewers naturally had quite a shock if they visited IMDB or the film's Wikipage page, then, and when a behind-the-scenes VFX breakdown was later released, the full stunning brilliance of the effect was totally cemented.