Dropping Friday on Prime Video: Rachel Weisz, times two, as twins in ‘Dead Ringers’

We get a double dose of Oscar winner Rachel Weisz on Amazon’s Prime Video Friday, with the debut of a series adaptation of David Cronenberg‘s 1988 twins thriller, Dead Ringers.

That movie starred another Academy Award winner, Jeremy Irons, as the twin leads, but the show has Weisz playing both Elliot and Beverly Mantle, two identical but very different twin gynecologists who push the boundaries of personal and medical ethics.

Weisz, who also executive-produced the series, told ABC Audio, “Well, it was a small but big idea. It was just initially it was just what if two sisters could play these doctors, and it be for long-form storytelling, so we’d have more time to tell it.” 

She adds, “And then I suppose we started to really think about all the different things that the show could be. But it began as a small, a small dream.” 

Gender-swapping the protagonists put a very different spin on the material, which delves into sex, infertility, the healthcare system and reproductive rights of women. That said, Weisz expressed she had a blast playing these very different twins, who not only share a passion for medicine but many scenes as well — which meant the English actress often acts opposite herself. 

“The writing is delicious, you know?” she enthuses. “I mean, literally for Elliot, she’s always looking for something delicious to eat or do or partake in. And Beverly, with all her resistance to pleasure, is also as a sweetly delicious character. So it was definitely the biggest challenge of my career and also the most joyous or delicious. I’m going to take your word!” 

Dead Ringers also stars Poppy Liu, Jennifer Ehle and Britne Olford.