Behind every great actor is someone who, literally, takes their place for blocking and lighting scenes, helps with reaction shots, and generally does any and everything to help their famous alter ego dazzle on screen. But this secret world of doppelgängers rarely gets any publicity or attention. Until now that this, thanks to this fascinating series of profiles by The Hollywood Reporter.
Through a number of short video vignettes, THR looks at the surprisingly tight bonds that can form between actors and their stand-ins—many of these relationships end up stretching across multiple projects and years. Perhaps first and foremost among these moviemaking connections is the one between Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges and his longtime stand-in, Loyd Catlett, who has worked with the star for five decades and who Bridges now requires to be hired for any project he works on.
“We’ve been doing it so long that it would feel odd not to have my partner with me, you know,” Bridges told THR. Being in such close proximity for long periods of time—and the long, grueling workdays on set—has naturally bred a deep camaraderie between the two men (who look eerily similar) .”We grew up together,” explained Catlett, whose named his son, Jeffrey Cole, after his famous friend and colleague. And when Bridges won the Best Actor Oscar for Crazy Heart, he acknowledged Catlett in his thank you speech. “That one made me cry. I hear it and I go, ‘I can’t believe he just did that,’” Catlett said.
Bridges and Catlett are far from alone, however. THR looks at several other big-name stars—Ed Harris, Sterling K. Brown, Tea Leoni, and Natasha Lyonne—who have developed deep personal and professional bonds with their unheralded body doubles.
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
