Counterpart
the Honourable Doppelgangerw w w.sci fi n ow.co.u k |^061
Berlin plays a huge role in the show which
is reflected in the locations chosen by
production designer Knute Loewe, who
Lloyd describes as “a gleeful genius”. The
cast all talk about how invaluable working
with a German crew has been to the
success of the show. The old US military
hospital of Licterfelde, Tempelhof Airport
and Wemeuchen – a WWII airfield with
a gigantic bunker near the Polish border -
provide perfect backdrops for the show.
Williams explains her stance on filming in
Berlin: “It’s such a character in the show...
I know that’s a corny actor thing to say, but
it is intriguing where the wall went and the
stories of how people crossed over. I think
the fact that we’re there with the German
crew, with people speaking in their own
language, there is a wonderful sense of
strangeness and refracted existence.”
She goes on to tell a personal story about
her interactions with Berlin residents: “Talk
to a Berliner and they go, ‘Germany is
reunited’, and the young people go ‘there’s
no difference’. Then I remember asking this
young guy, my driver, who would talk about
his girlfriend’s family and tell me her family
were Easters... Ersters... So, the wall came
down 25 years ago but you can still tell that
her mum and dad are from the East? It’s
interesting and it really informs what we do.”
“The thing about Berlin is that the history
is so close to the surface,” says Lloyd.
Pinnock is in agreement: “You can follow a
line across the city and find out so much, like
here’s where a guy tried to parachute across
the wall, and here’s where a guy died in No
Man’s Land and nobody claimed the body.”
Williams too chimes in: “It gives
you goosebumps.
At Tempelhof, where
we shot at the airport,
they say there’s more
of Tempelhof underground than there is
above ground. I went into this incredible
room with all the Bakelite mechanics of it
and then this room that had these incredible
cast iron chandeliers that were like ballistics.
They were like guns in a way and part of
that whole Third Reich era where everything
was going to last for a thousand years.
The balustrades, the parquet flooring, the
doorknobs are all built for ballistic use. It
completely informed me about it.”
Gabriel’s role in Counterpart marked her
first ever trip to Europe, which she made
the most of by visiting the Kafka museum
in Prague as well as filming in Berlin. She
recalls a day she visited a cold war bunker
with one of the directors, Hanelle Culpepper,
saying: “It was pretty depressing. All around
the city are small reminders of its violent
past, a broken clock tower covered with
bullet holes, remnants of the wall of course.
It’s pretty strange, but Berlin is also one of
the coolest cities I’ve ever been to.”
That bunker near Wemeuchen had
an effect on all of the cast, as Williams
explains: “The disused airfield where Echo
is, which is all to be revealed, are these
extraordinary bunkers covered in grass so
the British couldn’t see them from above. It’s
so atmospheric.”
Pinnock elaborates further: “You have
these feelings about these places you go to
and the energy is really palpable. Then you
discover why, and it makes a lot of sense.”
The type of locations used in Season
Two all feed into the narrative, with Lloyd
revealing: “Things that have been abandoned
and you can see what they were, but the rust
and the mould and the ivy have taken over.
That’s a big part of Season Two.”Counterpart is streaming now
on STARZPLAY.The old world order is
on a knife-edge.There are lots of new
faces in Season Two.A strAnger
with my fAce
The finest genre
doppelgangersAnnihilAtion
In Alex Garland’s adaptation of Jeff
VanderMeer’s novel, the gorgeous and
grotesque live side-by-side and the rules
of nature do not apply. Natalie Portman
plays a scientist sent to explore a new
world packed full of mutations and
hybrids and towards the end of the film
comes face to face with herself for a
surreal dance sequence.enemy
Denis Villeneuve turns José Saramago’s
Kafkaesque tale of two male doppelgangers
into a film about fear of fatherhood.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays the dual role of a
man who spots his look-alike in a movie
and goes on the search to find his more
successful counterpart.Buffy
In ‘Doppelgangland’ an evil, blood-sucking
version of Willow sprouts to life to stalk the
streets of Sunnydale after she is tricked into
summoning her vampire-self from another
dimension into existence. Buffy star Alyson
Hannigan has lots of fun posing in leather
and acting wicked.cAm
An erotic webcam performer’s livelihood is
threatened when a virtual version of herself
appears online, steals her identity and
locks her out of her chatroom. Madeline
Brewer is outstanding in the lead dual role
as she switches between multiple personas
and shifts from playful to frightened and to
furious in a heartbeat.