‘Dead Ringers’ Boss Teases Rachel Weisz’s Disturbingly Connected Duo
Preview
Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz is miles from her best known roles — The Constant Gardener, The Favourite — playing intensely close (but at times diametrically different) twins Beverly and Elliot Mantle in the six-episode limited thriller series Dead Ringers. The identical sisters, both brilliant Manhattan OBGYNs aiming to revolutionize women’s fertility care, work together, live together and occasionally swap places.
“I’d hate to judge them, but I don’t think it’s healthy,” says executive producer Alice Birch (Normal People) of the disturbingly connected duo.
The show is based on the 1988 film of the same name directed by David Cronenberg, in which Jeremy Irons did double duty. The idea to switch the main characters’ gender came from Weisz.
“She loved the film and is a huge Cronenberg fan,” says Birch. The British actress wanted to see where the story could go with two women.
Courtesy of Prime Video
Also an executive producer, Weisz was a regular in the writers’ room, and deftly sets her two characters apart: Beverly’s cautious demeanor contrasts with Elliot’s voracious appetite for food and life.
“Elliot knows what she wants, gets it, and feels satisfied,” Birch says. She’ll bend the rules of science — and her take on the Hippocratic oath — to get to her professional goals, even if it means manipulating her sister.
But Elliot’s power position is threatened when she sees that her twin’s relationship with emotionally open actress Genevieve (Britne Oldford) is no fling. Terrified to lose Beverly, Elliot lets her scientific passions push her a little too far.
Dead Ringers premieres on April 21 on Prime Video with all six episodes. It also stars Poppy Liu as Greta, Michael Chernus as Tom, Jennifer Ehle as Rebecca, and Emily Meade as Susan. It’s co-produced by Amazon Studios and Annapurna Television.
Dead Ringers, Series Premiere Friday, April 21, Prime Video
This is an excerpt from TV Insider’s May issue. For more in-depth, reported coverage devoted to streaming shows from the publishers of TV Guide Magazine, pick up the issue, currently on newsstands or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
