Hitchcock is cast as a paranoid history professor shadowed by an elusive double against the backdrop of the Cold War, played out through the television tube he "says all the wrong things at all the wrong times while politicians on both sides desperately clamor to say the right things, live on TV." The themes explored in Double Take are all rooted in the following comment by Ron Burrage - the Alfred Hitchcock lookalike: "People always do a double take when they see me." And as such the film's exploration into paranoia is also a double take on the Cold War, a mirror of the fear mongering played over the TV tube. The multilayered metaphors of Double Take explore not only the character of Alfred Hitchcock meeting his double, but also the era's society as a whole. Double Bottoms and multilayered metaphors The themes of Double Take are paranoia, falsehoods, contradictions and the rise of the culture of fear played out through the beginning of the television era. In 2007, Film and Video Umbrella published a book version of Looking For Alfred with inclusions by authors: Patricia Allmer, Jorge Luis Borges, Chris Darke, Thomas Elsaesser, Tom McCarthy, Jeff Noon and Slavoj Zizek. The project explored the legacy of Hitchcock's persona as well as it made references to his films through restaging his cameo appearances.
#Doubletake movie professional
He chose Mike Perry, a Hitchcock sound-alike and an impersonator of Tony Blair, while Ron Burrage, a professional Hitchcock double, as a result of this search, became a protagonist in Double Take. Grimonprez held screen tests in New York, Los Angeles and London. The video installation explored the director's search for the perfect Hitchcock double. In 2005, prior to making Double Take - which started as a casting, Grimonprez shot the ten-minute video installation Looking For Alfred. Delfine Bafort as the Hitchcock's blonde (the double of Eva Marie Saint and Tippi Hedren).He is not only filling in for Hitchcock but literally taking over his role by introducing Tippi Hedren to the audience after the first screening of the newly restored print of The Birds in Locarno, that actually took place on 13 August. "For years, Ron impersonated Hitchcock in everything ranging from Robert Lepage's Le Confessional (1995) (itself a remake), to soap and shampoo commercials, to guest appearances in music videos for Oasis, to introducing Hitchcock Presents on Italian television, to starring in a Japanese documentary about the life of the Master." However, Burrage shares much more with the real Alfred Hitchcock than his looks from Hitchcock's pranks to his birthday (13 August). Killed by the younger, television-making, version of himself. By means of his double, Hitchcock the filmmaker realizes that he is going to die. All the while, Folgers coffee advertisements puncture the narration in the backdrop of the Cold War. "So, tell me, how would you like to die?" asks the older Hitchcock, sipping on a cup of coffee. Regarding the aphorism that "if you meet your double, you should kill him", both Hitchcocks knowing how the encounter must end. Hitchcock and his doppelgänger regard each other with a mixture of revulsion and confusion. Intermittently returning to the room in which the menacing conversation between the two Hitchcocks proceeds, the narrative takes a deathward path. The ensuing conversation between the two is characterized by personal paranoia and distrust where the younger Hitchcock is in deep fear of his older alter ego. Here, Hitchcock and his doppelgänger meet. After a foreboding encounter with a security guard, Hitchcock finds his way into a room similar to the tearooms in both the Chasen's hotel in Los Angeles and the Claridge's hotel in London. Whilst on set of his 1962 film The Birds, Hitchcock calls a twelve-minute break in order to answer a phone call in one of the universal studio buildings. Inspired by Jorge Luis Borges' short story 25th August, 1983, Double Take's narrative plot is based on a fictional encounter Alfred Hitchcock has with an older version of himself. Hitchcock's Belly Button, women and male hysteria Cultural References: the Figure of the Double in Literature
Political Layering, The Cold War & The Birds as metaphor
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