Richard Ayoade is following up his critically-acclaimed debut, Submarine, with something slightly different: a fresh take on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novella **The Double, with Jesse Eisenberg playing both the lead and his doppelganger, and Mia Wasikowska their/his unrequited love. And to celebrate the film's screenings at the London Film Festival, here are two new and exclusive posters for it.
Taking inspiration from the original text rather than slavishly following it to the letter, Ayoade's interpretation is far easier to enjoy than Dostoyevsky's treatise on madness and human decency. There are even a few curious cameos to enjoy along the way. Look out for Chris O'Dowd, for example, as well as Paddy Considine in a role that we're praying will live on in another medium somehow, somewhere, sometime.
Without revealing too much, the plot centres on Eisenberg's shy and lonely Simon James and his much more vivacious and charming human facsimile, James Simon, as the former tries to drum up the courage to charm his co-worker Hannah - you'll notice her name's a palindrome, word fans - and the latter steals her away from under his nose.
As mentioned earlier,** The Double** will be screening at the LFF very soon. Its general release, meanwhile, is set for spring next year, with no official date announced just yet.