Rachel Weisz Stars In Amazon Prime’s Drama Series Remake, Dead Ringers
Remaking popular movies into TV shows definitely seems to be in at the moment. From Peacock’s Interview With The Vampire to Paramount+’s upcoming Fatal Attraction and Amazon’s Just Cause, small-screen versions of big-screen titles are all the rage- and the latest to get this treatment is David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers. Coming to Amazon Prime later this year on the 21st of April, the new TV series will star Rachel Weisz as two twin gynaecologists who want to push the boundaries of medical science and change how women give birth.
Weisz’s role(s) was originally played by Jeremy Irons in the 1988 film, and the action took place in Toronto. This version flips genders and swaps out Toronto for Manhattan, though it retains the twins’ names of Elliot and Beverly Mantle. It also keeps the same body horror elements that Cronenberg is most famous for, as the brilliant Mantle twins go on a dark and strange journey of highly illegal research. The twins share everything, from scientific ideas to drugs and even partners. The series explores themes of women’s health and the issues surrounding it, with the two sisters wanting to change old and outdated medical practices when it comes to healthcare for women. They test their experiments and theories on infertile women, despite the ethical and moral questions it raises.
The original film also explored the twins’ personal lives, and Jeremy Irons’ Elliot and Beverly were contrasting in persona, with Elliot being more confident and seducing women before swapping places with Beverly while the women remain unaware. The series looks to replicate this, with Weisz’s Elliot and Beverly also seducing the women who come to their clinic, and their complex relationship is at the core of the plot. If the series is anything like the film, you can expect things to get messy- both between the twins and the amount of blood
Dead Ringers drops 21st April
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The series is written by Alice Birch, who was one of the main writers of both Normal People and Conversations With Friends, as well as working on Succession. Weisz executive produces and was instrumental in getting the series the greenlight, and she’s joined in the cast by Michael Chernus (Orange Is The New Black) and Poppy Liu (Hacks, Better Call Saul). Other recurring cast members include Jeremy Shamos (Better Call Saul), Jennifer Ehle (The Blacklist) and Emily Meade (The Deuce). The show will be a limited series lasting six episodes, and debut on 21st April.