Body Double - Description

Description

The term body double is used when a substitute replaces the credited actor of a character in any recorded visual medium in shots where the character's body is shown but the face is either not visible or shown indistinctly, or in shots where the image of the credited actor's face is joined, usually by digital image processing, to the image of the body double's body. Body doubles are most often used for shots involving a nude scene. More specific terms are often used in special cases; a stunt double is used for dangerous or sophisticated sequences. This is in contrast to a stand-in who replaces an actor for non-filming purposes such as scene arrangement and lighting adjustments.

Stunt double or body double can both be used for cases where special skills are needed—anything from playing the piano, to competitive skiing.

Also, if only a part of the body is shown, the term might be more specific; probably the most common is a hand double, who is used to shoot inserts where only the hand or arm is in the shot. These inserts are often shot by the second unit with a double at a later point in production primarily because it allows the main unit to use the lead actors' time more efficiently. Another common body double is the butt double, mostly used with TV, since whole-body nudity isn't as common in that medium. The term stunt butt is also attested, as is stunt cock.

A production scene photodouble portrays a double of the lead actor for the director. A double will be seen on camera during the movie. Some of these many double-acted scenes could be long or wide establishing shots, complicated over-the-shoulder main lead actor's dialogue sequences or in quick insert close-up shots involving only showing actor's body parts.

The photodouble must say the dialogue lines in the same lead actor timing and also reproduce the exact physical actions in co-ordination with the other principal actors in that scene to make this scene suitable for the final cut.

Usually, the double's face is kept from being seen on camera. This way the lead actor can work in fewer scenes and can apparently be filming in two scenes at once. And in this way, a well cast photodouble can help speed up the day's production and is a necessary and valuable cast person for a film.

In some productions, this technique (use of a double whose face is not seen on camera) is used where one actor is credited as playing more than one character. If both characters (played by the same actor) appear on camera in the same scene, the credited actor plays the character whose face is seen, and the double plays the other character (usually seen only from the back). An example of this is the identical cousins on The Patty Duke Show. This has become less common with the digital editing currently available allowing the credited actor to play multiple versions of himself onscreen such as with Hugo Weaving in The Matrix trilogy. In such a case, the actor simply films his lines for each doppleganger separately.

The 1984 film Body Double, directed by Brian De Palma, featured a plot that hinged on the discovery that one character had in fact served as a body double for another.