the devil ' s double
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the devil' s double breaks the record for highest international sales of a film from the benelux. sales agent
dominic cooper in “the devil' s double, ” about uday hussein and his double, who is forced to serve as his decoy .
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who starred in the movie the devil' s double ?
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devil' s double had very lukewarm critical reception. it has little chance of getting any oscar attention .
- the devil’s double, from once were warriors and die another day director lee tamahori, is released next wednesday .
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this cast list of who was in the devil' s double includes both lead and minor roles. (15 items )
latif yahia, left, and actor dominic cooper at the british premiere of the devil' s double. photograph: luke macgregor / reuters
the devil' s double cast list, listed alphabetically with photos when available. this list of the devil' s double actors includes any the devil' s double actresses and all other actors from the film. you can view additional information about each the devil' s double actor on this list, such as when and where they were born. to find out more about a particular actor or actress, click on their name and you' ll be taken to page with even more details about their acting career. the cast members of the devil' s double have been in many other movies, so use this list as a starting point to find actors or actresses that you may not be familiar with .
“the devil’s double” is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). sex, violence, sexual violence, drug use .
i' m not sure what it all adds up to, but the devil' s double puts its hooks in you and keeps them there .
the hero of
the devil' s double
may get upstaged by the villain, but that' s not exactly bad news for star dominic cooper, since he plays both parts .
clones of the late 1960s, the devil' s agent holds up pretty well when seen today .
the devil' s double is a movie starring dominic cooper, ludivine sagnier, and raad rawi. a chilling vision of the house of saddam hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of hussein' s sadistic son .
while the makers of iraq war movie the hurt locker bask in the oscars glory, a very different movie on iraq - the devil' s double - is currently being shot in malta .
the devil' s double is a fantastic film that features a central performance so compelling, you' d be foolish to look away even for a second .
“the devil’s double, ” however, doesn’t have the competence to make its history - as - thriller dynamic click. riddled with grade - z exploitation and made - for - tv amateurishness, the movie presumably uses shocking imagery to underscore the dark mind behind it. but when uday literally spills the guts of his father’s friend across a dinner table, “the devil’s double” abandons credibility in favor of plain silliness .
tamahori’s filmography, which also includes “xxx: state of the union, ” suggests he’s the wrong fit for the material. david o. russell’s “three kings” successfully brought an american genre to iraq without simplifying the setting. “the devil’s double, ” on the other hand, confirms the crude, one - dimensional character types that still dominate the western imagination .
the film tells the real - life story of the man forced to be the body double of saddam hussein' s sadistic son uday in pre - war baghdad .
this weekend sees the uk release of the devil’s double, a $ 20m action blockbuster set in the “lawless playground of excess and violence known as baghdad, 1987”. the film is purportedly based on the true story of latif yahia (dominic cooper), an iraqi army captain forced to work as a body double for the eldest son of saddam hussein, uday .
his disturbing story is told in new movie the devil’s double, starring english actor dominic cooper – but sitting across from me in a london hotel, he tells me the full story would be far too horrific to commit to film .
the devil' s double trailer release date: july 29th, 2011 genres: action, biography, drama director: lee tamahori writers: michael thomas, latif yahia stars: dominic cooper, ludivine sagnier and raad rawi plot: a chilling vision of the house of saddam hussein comes to life through the eyes of the man who was forced to become the double of hussein' s sadistic son .
the poster for the devil' s double, a thriller about saddam hussein' s son uday, is a vision of excess in babylon. dominic cooper slouches on a gilded throne looking every inch the playboy, all chest hair and dark shades, two machine guns spewing cartridges over his head .
the life story of latif yahia, body double to saddam hussein’s diabolically unhinged son uday, makes for slick action - movie fodder in “the devil’s double, ” a rocket - powered thriller rife with scenery chewing and fast - and - loose revisionism that could, by dint of sheer sensationalism, break the iraq movie curse and rack up some serious b. o. around the world. [ … ]
x - factor: mike myers’s cameo as donnie schulzhoffer as an homage to don cherry’s coach’s corner .
round one, match two: h - e double hockey sticks vs. mystery, alaska
lee tamahori' s
the devil' s double
is based on the experiences of latif yahia, who was groomed as uday' s double. in this role, he survived no less than a dozen assassination attempts. the movie portrays him as an iraqi soldier forced to take the job after beatings and threats to his family; he is seen throughout as a respectable figure with contempt for uday and a good deal of courage in standing up to him .
caesar’s report was published in the sunday times on 23 january. at the very least, it should have raised serious doubts over whether any of the events depicted in the devil’s double actually happened. yet with the film about to open at the box office, yahia is being rolled out once again for another round of interviews, and the british press are once again lapping up this “true story” .
since uday’s death alongside brother qusay during the united states’ 2003 invasion of iraq, stories of uday’s antics took on a global dimension. the 2010 publication of yahia’s memoir (also titled “the devil’s double”) went to great lengths to flesh out uday’s villainy while attributing his behavior to a delusional power trip. however, tamahori’s adaptation reduces uday into a cartoonish monster who wouldn’t be out of place in a james bond movie. (tamahori directed one of the weaker bond installments, “die another day. ” )
ba: that’s interesting because we left the order of the tracks right to the last minute .
based on a gripping, unbelievable true story of money, power and opulent decadence, lionsgate’s the devil’s double takes a white - knuckle ride deep into the lawless playground of excess and violence known as baghdad, 1987. summoned from the frontline to saddam hussein' s palace, iraqi army lieutenant latif yahia (dominic cooper) is thrust into the highest echelons of the
royal family
when he’s ordered to become the ‘fiday’ – or body double – to saddam' s son, the notorious
black prince
uday hussein (also dominic cooper), a reckless, sadistic party - boy with a rabid hunger for sex and brutality .
yahia’s brief piece for newsweek, published last week, does a much better job of encapsulating the experience of being subservient to a mad man. he closes by discussing the missed chance for justice that came with uday’s abrupt death. “the devil’s double” has no such subtlety. it works as a period piece in only the most abstract sense, reflecting a time when sadaam hussein’s regime still signified enemy number one. appropriately, it plays like a clueless nightmare .
there were times early in
the devil' s double
that i felt it was preparing to approach greatness. the materials are all assembled. and then it never really engages with them. there can be no
explanation
for uday' s madness. but latif' s character is explored primarily for the plot' s convenience, and obvious questions are sidestepped. it' s a terrific show. all due praise to dominic cooper. it should have been more .
its the time of year when the nominees for the oscar' s start to gossip round the media. who do you think deserves an oscar? plenty of good films / actors / actresses etc this year but the ones that stand out for me so far are best actor - dominic cooper the devils double or tom hardy warrior supporting actor - nick nolte warrior movie - the devils double
my quarrel here is not with the producers of the devil’s double. their job is to produce an entertaining film that people will enjoy and, by all accounts, they have succeeded. my gripe is with the media, who have a duty to report the truth as best they can, but in this instance have failed abjectly to do so .
word on the street is nintendo published a very low number of copies of devil’s third at retail. if this is true, this is a serious disservice made to their own fans .
the life story of latif yahia, body double to saddam hussein ’s diabolically unhinged son uday, makes for slick action - movie fodder in “the devil’s double, ” a rocket - powered thriller rife with scenery chewing and fast - and - loose revisionism that could, by dint of sheer sensationalism, break the iraq movie curse and rack up some serious b. o. around the world. more “scarface” than “house of saddam, ” director lee tamahori ’s gangster - style treatment veritably blisters with tension as reluctant decoy latif comes to fill the void of uday’s nonexistent conscience, playing front - row witness to the tyrant’s insatiable cruelty. biggest setback stateside could be the ratings board .
it’s hard to believe that “the devil’s double” doesn’t intend to be a put - on. despite a real - life basis of its plot, lee tamahori’s fierce depiction of hedonistic saddaam hussein spawn uday hussein relegates the character to a farcical cartoon. looking like a macabre groucho marx, dominic cooper portrays uday as a leering, cigar - puffing womanizer who alternates between scowling and grating hyena guffaws .
latif, a quiet man with a troubled conscience, serves as our guide and moral protector during this behind - the - scenes tour of hell. (the real latif yahia is the author of the book on which “the devil’s double” is based, classified as a novel but incorporating his actual experiences .) his disapproval of uday’s behavior reminds us that we are also appalled — and not only titillated — by all the violence and debauchery .
were you looking for a retail copy of devil’s third? did you manage to get a copy, or did you decide to go digital? share your thoughts with us in the comments .
the film’s evocations of the traditions of “scarface” and “the sopranos” are neither accidental nor inappropriate. the husseins did resemble a classic hollywood crime family — or at least that is how they appear in the 1980s and ’90s, when the movie takes place. saddam (philip quast) is a grumpy, remote patriarch preoccupied with the daily business of tyranny. his ruthlessness at least appears to have some purpose. but the demon in “the devil’s double” is his son uday (dominic cooper), whose waywardness is both the result of his father’s absolute power and a source of irritation to the old man .
this $ 20m film is based on latif yahia' s claim to have been a body double for uday hussein. but his story doesn' t add up
ba: i think the whole album is soaked in tjinder’s sensibilities, especially in the production on the drums and bass and how the instrumentation is worked out. that’s a massive element to the record .
his virtuosity is not quite enough to lift “the devil’s double” above its self - imposed limitations. the movie is provocative but rarely thought - provoking, and it stops short of any startling psychological or political insight. but it has its hands on an astonishing story, a tale of horrifying excess that it tells with invigorating and perhaps unseemly enthusiasm .
evil exists. there are people on this planet who live without moral compass or boundaries, men who feed on hate and terror. for years uday hussein, son of dictator saddamn hussein, wreaked his own personal brand of horror on the people of iraq and now director lee tamahori has brought that malevolence to a personal level with the devil’s double .
the double o groove is instantly recongisable as a cornershop album as are all of your albums, but this one’s a bit different as it doesn’t have the immediacy of tjinder’s voice on it. can you break down for me, who does what on this ?
many of the problems with “the devil’s double” stem from the nature of its narrative. clearly produced for an english - speaking audience, the movie adopts an illogical method in which characters speak english with vaguely defined “foreign” accents. that unfortunate decision only enhances a synthetic quality that dominates each scene. cooper’s dual role is an equally transparent gimmick: the men look, unsurprisingly, like twins. the contrast provides a constant reminder that cooper works better with soft - spoken characters and not poorly scripted “snl” characterizations .
his acts sickened even his murderous father saddam and, for five years, latif yahia was his “fiday” – his double, catching bullets meant for iraq’s most despised man .
a once - in - a - lifetime opportunity for character actor dominic cooper (usually relegated to dreamy supporting parts), “double” allows the brit thesp to tackle two juicy, red - meat roles, playing opposite ends of the moral spectrum as both latif and uday — often in the same shot. in fact, “double’s” seamless split - screen work makes “the social network’s” high - tech twinning effects look as old - fashioned as friendster .
raised in a wealthy household in baghdad, latif yhia had saddam hussein' s eldest son uday as a classmate. their resemblance was remarked upon. years later latif was summoned to hussein' s palace and ordered to be sadistic uday' s body double. when he refused, he was imprisoned and tortured. when his family was also threated, he decided to cooperate. after extensive training, latif became uday' s double in 1987 .
destructoid reports that gamestop only has 420 copies of devil’s third available for sale via their online store. while this does not represent all retailers, it does imply nintendo didn’t plan to ship many copies of the game at all .
on the surface, latif yahia’s is a compelling tale. while on active service during the iran - iraq war, he was summoned to baghdad to serve as uday’s “fidi” (or body double). when he refused, he was tortured and forced to undergo cosmetic surgery, so that he might more closely resemble saddam’s psychotic son .
cooper takes on a second role as well, playing the innocent latif yahia, uday’s lookalike who was forced against his will into becoming uday’s body double. as yahia, cooper delivers a vastly superior performance, wearing the dazed expression of a good man trapped in pure evil. he’s also a good actor trapped in a bad movie .
drama. latif yahia, army lieutenant and former school companion of saddam hussein' s sadistic son uday hussein, is violently coerced into becoming uday' s body double and is reluctantly drawn into a terrifying world of excess and brutality .
the devil’s double is being screened in cinemas across the united states, canada, united kingdom, russia, belgium, the netherlands and surinam. soon release will follow in japan, turkey, eastern europe, middle east, australia, new sealand, scandinavia, thailand, south korea, spain, portugal, india, south - afrika, indonesia, iceland and latin america. under negotiation are france, italy and germany .
as people across the arab world struggle to shake off the burdens of dictatorship, the release of “the devil’s double, ” a slick english - language excursion into saddam hussein’s iraq, might seem either timely or insensitive. shot in lurid, gilded tones; pulsing with pop decadence, the film is less an anatomy of authoritarian politics than a gangster movie. mercedes - benz sedans hurtle through the streets; men in dark suits and sunglasses share the screen with women in lingerie; guns are drawn and fired; and life is either a nonstop war or an endless party, or both .
many of latif’s bodyguards died in the assassination attempts on him around the country by angry husbands or brothers .
represents the closure and pinnacle of a neorealist strand within what’s now described as the l. a. rebellion. chronicling the devastating effects of underemployment on a family in the same los angeles community depicted in charles burnett’s
ba: it’s in the can. we just don’t see that there’s any point in rushing with it. the longer amount of time that passes the more historically interesting it will become .
ba: i do think it’s there as a subconscious thing though. even on the ‘days of ford cortina’ it’s alluding to the past as a good thing .
the late gerry ryan wasn’t alone. ed bradley of cbs, david frost of al - jazeera and john simpson of the bbc all interviewed yahia and all took him at his word. this was remarkable. because from outset, there were holes in his story so wide they might have been visible from outer space. i am not an investigative reporter. all it took for me to realise that there were question marks over yahia’s credibility was actually bothering to read his books: the devil’s double and the black hole .
it' s kind of a slow week on the home market in two ways. firstly, the only major release of the week is
the screenplay, written by michael thomas, is based on latif yahia’s biographical novel .
but the power that came with being saddam’s son allowed the young uday to become untouchable, even among his terrified teachers at the segregated school .
the world, the flesh and the devil ’s mixed critical reception may be attributed in part to its racial - political angle. its post - nuclear survivor tale entertains the possibility of interracial love and sex, and harry belafonte, in the starring role, takes up arms against white aggressors. it was one of two films released in 1959 by belafonte’s harbel productions (the first black - owned and “branded” hollywood production company), a few years after he became the thirteenth african american to appear on the cover of time magazine .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him. riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you. …
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more recently, yahia has been investigated by the british journalist ed caesar. in nine months, caesar failed to uncover a single piece of evidence to support yahia’s claims to have worked as a body double for uday. among many other, he spoke to haytham ajmaya, a former member of uday’s inner circle, and raad al - sheikh, a private guard at saddam’s presidential palace during the period in question. both men categorically denied that yahia had ever worked as a body double for uday, or indeed that uday had even used body doubles .
“double” panders to the basest tendencies in the makeover sequence that follows, depicting latif’s transformation with the same sordid approach seen in many an episode of “nip / tuck. ” uday watches with mad - scientist zeal as latif is stripped down, sized up and reshaped through plastic surgery to reflect his new boss .
the movie is above all entertaining, if you enjoy human grotesquerie and flamboyant acting. let' s face it: many of us do. there' s a reason hannibal lecter remains the most popular villain in the movies. dominic cooper is inevitably more effective as uday than as latif, his disapproving double. after we get a few tastes of uday, we can almost feel the energy level sagging during latif' s scenes. nor does the role of sarrab (ludivine sagnier) hold up very well. what' s her real story? why would she, knowing what she knows, take the reckless risk of becoming latif' s lover? the movie never persuades us that it understands her .
nudges daniel craig' s rebooted bond closer to the glorious, action - driven spectacle of earlier entries, although it' s admittedly reliant on established 007 formula .
otto preminger’s daring musical is based on oscar hammerstein’s broadway version of bizet’s famed opera, here set in the american south during wartime and featuring an all black cast. the pleasure - seeking femme fatale who seduces harry belafonte’s g. i. joe is played by dorothy dandridge, whose defiant performance earned her the first best actress oscar nomination for a person of color .
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lee tamahori' s new film portrays saddam as a mafia don struggling to maintain order and discipline in iraq. but he' s worried that he might have handed america' s neocons a propaganda gift
spectre is sloppier than other recent bonds, but it also feels like it' s exhausted the idea that fueled the franchise' s relaunch - - darker and more realistic can only last so long when it' s paired with a rotating cast of bond girls and supervillains .
oscar micheaux’s within our gates may be the legendary director’s most provocative film. made in response to the racism portrayed in griffith’s the birth of a nation, it contains sequences deemed so incendiary that the film was repeatedly cut by censors; in 1992 the library of congress restored the film as close to the original as possible. the melodrama follows sylvia, a young southern teacher who travels to boston to seek funding for her school. an extended flashback near the end of the film “refutes the claims of white popular culture with regard to ‘black’ reconstruction” (michele wallace), ” showing us how sylvia’s life was shaped by racial prejudice, lynching, and miscegenation. preservation print courtesy of the library of congress .
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rapes, killings and tortures were all in a day’s work for uday hussein, one of the most sadistic monsters the world has ever seen .
while devil’s third has received poor critical reception, nintendo may have done fans a disservice if they really did a low print run for the game. good or bad, there were players who still wanted the game for their collection. digital, of course, remains an option, but even then, there will be fans who want the game enough that they will deal with scalpers, and these are the gamers nintendo have done a disservice too .
latif then moved into an opulent palace where everything was laid on for him, and the long training process began to turn him into the perfect replica of the butcher of baghdad’s son .
uday hussein, the eldest son of iraq' s saddam hussein, was a vile and deranged man, whose depravities were given full rein with unlimited power and money. it was a demanding job to be the double of a man so many sincerely wanted to see dead; even saddam reportedly told uday ,
i should have killed you the day you were born .
the film shows a crass, party - boy interest in uday’s attitude and lifestyle, ranging from an unnecessarily explicit series of torture videos (including a power drill to the ear sure to inflame the mpaa) to uncomfortable scenes of kidnap, rape and murder. “it’s all worse than we could possibly portray, ” tamahori said by way of defense at pic’s sundance premiere, though one wonders whether auds really needed to have their faces rubbed in such vile behavior. “double” further emasculates uday by injecting suggestions of homosexuality and incest .
the film is directed by lee tamahori ludivine sagnier will play sarrab, uday’s concubine and secret lover to latif .
latif and uday’s paths first crossed when they were teenagers in the same class at school, the best in baghdad. saddam had just become president and latif’s millionaire businessman father warned his son to steer clear of his powerful classmate .
tamahori appears relatively sympathetic towards saddam: in the film he appears desperate to maintain discipline in a country on the brink of foreign invasion, with a son whom he wishes had never been born .
we have left saddam hussein as a don corleone, or a mafia don trying to keep things in check .
he says .
it was saddam who built the country universities, road and free education. that seemed to be the devil' s pact that he signed with the people .
three years after robert drew’s breakthrough documentary following jfk through the wisconsin presidential primary, the president, recognizing the historical significance of the direct cinema approach, permitted drew to film during a period of crisis: the showdown between alabama governor george wallace and the federal government over the integration of the university of alabama. drew had teams at the oval office, the justice department and the university, capturing the human details of a drama deeply affecting the country, the civil rights movement and the presidency. preserved by the academy film archive. playing with perfect film (ken jacobs, 1986, 22 min. 16mm), a radical gesture in found footage composed of an unedited reel of interviews with eyewitnesses to the assassination of malcolm x .
in this columbia pictures remake of frank capra’s submarine (1928), 20s and 30s hollywood star dolores del río plays a mexican dancer who weds one officer and seduces another. while the mexican actress was widely considered one of hollywood’s most beautiful faces, her racial difference influenced casting and critical reception. for devil’s playground, her 24th film and a commercial flop, her predatory role–a manifestation of negative stereotypes–led one reviewer to remark that her part “exactly fits her talents and her looks. she is uncomfortably real. ”
looking on with disapproval, latif remains upstanding through it all, and though it’s easy to feel manipulated by the polar differences between cooper’s two characters, that dichotomy makes for great drama. watching the swift, svelte energy with which tamahori hurls us forward, it’s easy to see the qualities that earned him the gig directing “die another day, ” especially in the music choices, which favor electronic and rock over the typical regional sounds used to situate middle eastern fare .
if one of the most successful and long - running franchises in movie history wants to keep pumping, it' s once again time to change the formula .
at some point during the first few months of this website in 2008 i commissioned an article under the working title of are cornershop the greatest cult band of the last 20 years? it got lost in the upheaval caused by the youthful separation from our parent company. (that and the much mourned billy holiday - a bank holiday’s worth of content featuring pieces on only billy childish, billy bragg, billy idol and billie piper .) on listening to their two releases since then; judy sucks a lemon for breakfast in 2009 and this year’s cornershop and the double - ‘o’ groove of, however, it was obviously even more of a missed opportunity because that title feels less like challops and more like the stone cold truth .
we track hollywood' s upcoming movie releases through all stages of production. more
racist bigotry in the deep south is the subject of elia kazan’s vanguard interracial romance. fearing a southern boycott, the film’s producer cast a caucasian actress as pinky, a pale - skinned african american “passing” as white in boston who returns to the south to visit her mother and is confronted by her black identity in a racist society. the court of marshall, texas found an exhibitor guilty of presenting a film that was “of such a character as to be prejudicial to the best interests of the people of said city. ” the case eventually led to a u. s. supreme court victory for the film .
but while serving in the army in 1983 during the iran - iraq war, he received an order summoning him to uday’s palace and was given a terrible choice .
an iraqi soldier is forced to become a double for saddam hussein' s sadistic son uday to distract assassins. his new role plunges him into a world of depravity, as he becomes a first - hand witness to the acts of murder and violence uday routinely indulges in. drama, starring dominic cooper, ludivine sagnier and philip quast .
dominic cooper recently completed stephen frear’s tamara drewe in which he holds the lead role opposite gemma arterton. in 2009 he starred in the acclaimed hit film an education, which received three academy award nominations including best motion picture. his additional film credits include last year’s international blockbuster, mamma mia! , the duchess and the history boys .
talking of which - i read something in the guardian recently that made me very angry. the writer howard jacobson was talking about how he was down on his luck and doing this job that was so beneath him - i. e. he was a polytechnic lecturer in wolverhampton. now not that i feel wolverhampton needs defending by me - in fact in some ways it’s relatively indefensible - but just the sheer snide insinuation that this was pretty much as bad as it got for someone like him. now i know you’ve had some harsh things to say about the city before now but do you ever feel the need to argue devil’s advocate for the place, to defend its honour ?
even more tasteless than its main character' s gold' n' marble palace .
well that' s brothers for you; they always know which buttons to press .
graduating from this sick course, latif was given access to all life’s luxuries. but he would be sent out to perform uday’s civic duties, everything from inspecting troops to handing out medals to the iraqi football team .
uday, a pathetic and dangerous weakling beneath his playboy strut, presents an interesting case study in the psychopathology of unchecked privilege. a rapist, cokehead and sadist, sentimentally attached to his mother and brutally contemptuous of all other women, uday is a walking cartoon of degeneracy. puffing on big cigars, brandishing rolex watches and oversize pistols, he looks like a teenager acting out fantasies gleaned from hip - hop videos. and as the film moves through his world of blood and sex and curdled machismo, “the devil’s double” inhales some of his toxic, shallow energy. at times you feel as if you were stuck in grand theft auto: baghdad city, which, while entertaining enough, can also become a bit wearying .
mystery, alaska: a hockey - crazed small town in alaska centers on the weekly “saturday game” of pond hockey. after a feature in sports illustrated, the nhl suggests an exhibition game between the new york rangers and the town’s players. sheriff john biebe (russell crowe), who had recently been kicked off of the saturday game to make room for a younger, talented skater is asked to coach the team amid increasing signs that the game is taking on greater significance than a simple exhibition. multiple townspeople’s lives are drawn into the events of the game, and eventually biebe must step onto the ice as a player .
his film depicts 1980s baghdad as a city of sin, run for the debauched entertainment of a seedy elite. at its centre is uday, the elder son of the ruling dictator, who was assassinated by us special forces in 2003. he is played by cooper (who made his name in the history boys) as a vainglorious, self - obsessed monster. cooper also plays latif yahia, the man supposedly hired as a body double for uday .
as a result of those ambiguities, it is interesting to wonder about the film' s purpose. it is not intended as history. although it draws applause at the news as the end credits roll that uday was killed in 2003 by u. s. special forces, it is not particularly unfavorable in its portrayal of papa hussein. he makes a few brief appearances in what functions as the movie' s token of (relative) sanity .
then the next stage of training – far more monstrous – began. to understand the president’s son, and to desensitise him to what was to come, he had to watch videos of tortures and rapes committed by uday and his friends. the barbarous acts, coupled with uday’s glee at committing them, sickened latif .
the movie (directed by lee tamahori from a script by michael thomas) filters its own prurient fascination with uday through the perspective of another, less loathsome character. this is latif yahia, also played by mr. cooper, a veteran of the iran - iraq war who is plucked from obscurity and offered the role of uday’s double. it is not an offer he can refuse — the interview process includes beatings and threats to his family — and the responsibilities are not always pleasant. he has good clothes, plentiful liquor and access to whatever women uday doesn’t want, but he has to serve as a decoy for assassins, a celebrity impersonator and, worst of all, uday’s official best buddy .
h - e double hockey sticks: apprentice demon griffelkin (will friedle) is instructed by ms. beelzebub (rhea perlman) to steal the soul of super talented hockey player dave heinrich (matthew lawrence). griffelkin and heinrich reach an agreement in which heinrich’s soul is forfeit if the delaware devils win the stanley cup, but griffelkin, in an act of rebellion against mean - spirited ms. beelzebub, has dave traded to the annapolis angels, the worst team in the league. heinrich has to learn to play with a new, less talented team and griffelkin tries to find a way to side with good .
this movie is not quite based on fact. tamahori and writer michael thomas make it clear they' ve fictionalized a great deal, and although they cite latif yahia' s own book as their source, that itself is a novel. in life, i learn, latif was groomed as uday' s double as early as his school days. nor did he plot uday' s death. his story raises the question of whether his real life role was quite as upstanding as it seems here; he would have much reason to portray himself in a favorable light .
are opening in saturation level theater counts. it is likely the latter will be the biggest of the three new releases (although it will likely have to settle for second place) and it is the target film in this week' s contest. in order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for
uday’s proposal is simple: he needs a “fiday” (a lookalike who can stand in for him in public), and latif can either accept the job or see his family executed for his insubordination. even when faced with this impossible choice, latif resists. did he really have such reservations? though the film was inspired by yahia’s true experiences, thomas and tamahori treat “double” as a dramatic retelling untethered to reality. for the sake of a good yarn, they prefer to think of latif as a righteous soul, forced to “extinguish” himself (as he puts it) and mirror this monster feared by the iraqi people .
ba: it was a very long, drawn out process, so it’s probably been the longest album from start to finish that we’ve done .
tied on an estimated $ 36, 206, 250. that' s a slight disappointment for
a cryptic message from bond' s past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. while m battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind spectre .
although a glimpse into the decadence of the hussein regime this bears the serious flaw of being one note. and yes, that note is loud .
baghdad, the playground for the rich and infamous, where anything can be bought - but for a price. this is uday hussein' s world and with his depraved lust for debauchery and immorality, he helps himself to whatever turns him on. when army lieutenant latif yahia is summoned to saddam' s palace, he is faced with an impossible request - to be uday' s' fiday' - his body double, or have his family condemned to death. in a world entrenched in betrayal and corruption, knowing who to trust becomes a matter of life or death for latif, as he battles to escape from his forced existence .
whatever historians make of it, tamahori' s film is one of the most gripping attempts to address the first gulf war, helped by a stand - out performance from cooper, who convincingly weaves between the two main roles of uday and yahia .
one of the most eagerly awaited dutch films of 2018 is redbad, the histo... -
this article is issued from wikipedia - version of the 11 / 29 / 2016. the text is available under the creative commons attribution / share alike but additional terms may apply for the media files .
hbo' s new series sharp objects premieres july 8 and follows amy adams as camille ...
his tales of life as uday’s body double seemed, to put it mildly, far - fetched. but those were only the beginning. since fleeing iraq, he claimed to have taken an austrian policeman hostage at gunpoint, punched a judge, doused a refugee camp in petrol, enjoyed a love affair with a saudi arabian princess (who was later beheaded), become a north sea ship’s captain and masterminded a diamond smuggling business out of amsterdam. each of these claims was as sensational as it was unverifiable .
in an episode dedicated to the show within the show, “glow” illustrates its grand capacity for storytelling, and the very good tv podcast breaks down how .
tamahori may have reason to believe he has gifted the state department a slice of prime propaganda. but his film is limited to the events before the first gulf war, and makes no reference to the war of 2003. we can look forward to that in the sequel. the script practically writes itself .
ba: talking of j. b. s in dudley, you were one of a handful of people to see the stone roses play live there .
ba: he asked us to do a lonnie donnegan song and' houston hash' wasn’t written by him but it was taken to the top of the charts by him. it’s also one that we quite like. and we liked the history of it; it was a huge hit in the states, possibly the first country hit there. that ep is definitely a nod to the support we’ve had from america .
x - factor: jack black plays augie, the high school team’s goaltender. if there is an actor better suited to capturing the unique and often strange persona of a goalie, i’d love to meet him .
later, he campaigned unsuccessfully for irish citizenship, becoming an outspoken critic of ireland’s then minister for justice, michael mcdowell. in 2007, he was the subject of a fawning episode of rte’s ryan confidential programme. at the time, i emailed series producer david blake knox to ask if programme makers had attempted to independently verify the truth of any of yahia’s claims. he replied: “our goal in this interview is to allow our viewers the opportunity to form their own opinions about his credibility. ” i took that as a no .
airborne: mitchell goosen (shane mcdermott) is dropped off in cincinnati, ohio to live with his aunt, uncle, and cousin wiley (seth green) by his parents as they depart for a six month zoological study. an avid surfer and inline skater, goosen soon attracts the negative attention of high school hockey team. eventually goosen wins over their begrudging respect after finding a non - violent but embarrassing way to respond to one of the rival “prep” players during an inline hockey game. both teams agree to settle their differences with a race down a set of streets named “the devil’s backbone” .
it was only after their wedding that she heard about his claim to have worked as uday’s body double, a claim she says she always found dubious. cunningham took out a barring order against yahia in 2000 and still lives in fear of him today. “it has been very hard for me over the years to see newspapers, tv and radio fawning over him, ” she told me. “nobody ever thought to investigate his claims. ”
within its opening minutes, michael thomas’ script lays everything out, cutting from a montage of real - world atrocity (front - line footage depicting corpses and other casualties of war) to an attack in which iraq army lt. latif narrowly escapes with his life. called to baghdad by former classmate uday, the decorated officer comes face - to - face with uday’s favorite mistresses, sarrab (alluring french actress ludivine sagnier), and judging by the look she throws latif, we know exactly where “double” is headed before uday even enters the room .
in 1994, lee tamahori surprised the world with once were warriors. he quickly became one of the most acclaimed directors of his generation with classics like mullholland falls, the edge, along came a spider, the bond box office hit die another day with pierce brosnan and halle berry and xxx2: the state of the union .
roger ebert' s speech on empathy for the
11th hour
series on april 9th, 1994, being republished here in honor of his birthday june 18 .
today marks round one of the hockey wilderness best hockey film tournament. we’ve got 12 competitors for the title .
the action is atrocious, and after the brass - balled sequences of rogue nation, spectre feels especially flat .
in spencer williams’ adaptation of the w. somerset maugham short story “miss thompson, ” nightclub performer gertie la rue (everett) escapes to a caribbean resort after two - timing her harlem boyfriend. ready to entertain the tourists and g. i. s stationed nearby, gertie must first face the demons of her past, as well as an intolerant reformer who condemns gertie’s sultry moves .
aubrey o' day' s tweets pretty much prove her
djt
lover is indeed donald trump jr .
this is an over - the - top gangster flick that starts with the volume turned up to 11 and stays that way. it' s never boring, but revels in the bad behaviour it pretends to condemn, and is too much on one note to be much good .
i was reading the new simon reynolds book retromania this morning and he explains the etymology behind the word nostalgia. in the late 17th century the swiss medical student johannes hofer coined the term “nostalgie” to refer to the extreme form of home sickness suffered by some of his countrymen on long tours of national in service in the lowlands of france and italy. this longing to get home led in some extreme cases to anorexia or even suicide. when the british borrowed the term in the 1920s to become ‘nostalgia’, the thing causing the sickness switched from being distance to time. i’ve always felt that there was a fundamental yearning to the music of cornershop - not in a i < 3 1974 way - but in a very fundamental yearning for a past that is unobtainable, forever just out of reach .
the main point of the film, he says, is to entertain .
all film is ultimately entertainment, regardless whether it' s the battle of algiers or a documentary about penguins ,
he says .
it is all there to manipulate us. i don' t want people to leave thinking they have the truth. what they have instead is an illusion of the truth .
ant - man and the wasp, starring paul rudd and evangeline lilly, took the top spot at ...
all screenings are open to the public and take place at the campus theatre, 413 market street, lewisburg pa .
equally as offensive as the movie' s smorgasbord of smut and violence is the lingering whiff of colonial - era orientalism, a western predilection for regarding eastern cultures as innately idle, lascivious, irrational, and thus ripe for intervention .
i read a piece this morning that i felt that almost made this interview redundant. it was a blog post on the movies on my mind site called killing in the name of good music which traces the acceptance of cornershop’s music among uk asian people in general. the author talks about why he feels that in the past your music hasn’t always been clutched to the heart of the community and lists a number of possible reasons before concluding that your music seems to be bigger with british asian people now more than ever. i was just wondering if you felt that this was the case ?
oscar micheaux (u. s. 1931) 78 min. with eunice brooks, stanley morrell, celeste cole.
the devil 's double is a 2011 belgian-dutch biographical film directed by lee tamahori , written by michael thomas , and starring dominic cooper in the dual role of uday hussein and latif yahia . it was released on january 22 , 2011 at the 2011 sundance film festival and was released in limited theaters on july 29 , 2011 by lionsgate and herrick entertainment . 
the devil's double is a 2011 belgian-dutch biographical film directed by lee tamahori, written by michael thomas, and starring dominic cooper in the dual role of uday hussein and latif yahia. it was released on january 22, 2011 at the 2011 sundance film festival and was released in limited theaters on july 29, 2011 by lionsgate and herrick entertainment.
the devil's double is a 2011 belgian-dutch biographical film directed by lee tamahori, written by michael thomas, and starring dominic cooper in the dual role of uday hussein and latif yahia. it was released on january 22, 2011 at the 2011 sundance film festival and was released in limited theaters on july 29, 2011 by lionsgate and herrick entertainment.