20 Brilliant Sci-Fi & Fantasy Films Where Actors Play Opposite Themselves

Ryan Coogler’s Sinners was last year’s surprise hit, catching us totally off guard and landing a prohibition-era vampire flick that manages to feel new, exciting, and unlike anything else the fantasy genre or its blood-sucking subgenre has ever had to offer.

Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers Smoke and Stack, whose presence is felt when they roll into Clarksdale, Mississippi following a long absence and set up a juke joint in an old sawmill. But while the new party venue attracts musicians and revellers from across the county, it also garners unwanted attention from Remmick (Jack O’Connell), an Irish immigrant fiddle player with a dreamy voice, a charming demeanour, and sharper canines than the average folk singer.

Jordan manages to make the twin roles so distinct that we’re never uncertain about who’s who, but just in case we weren’t paying attention, Coogler colour-coded them blue and red to draw a clear aesthetic distinction. And all the tricks in the book were used to make the doubling of the actor convincing for audiences, everything from more conventional split screens, to a special “Halo Rig” designed for the film: a ring of 10-12 cameras worn by Jordan to capture his entire head performance, which was then digitally transferred onto his on-set double.