As Denis Villeneuve‘s transfixing psychothriller “Enemy” heads to theaters, one thing that perhaps has been forgotten in coverage about the film is that it’s based on the novel by José Saramago. Indeed, the Nobel Prize winning Portuguese writer’s excellent “The Double” is the source material for the film, which takes the concept of a man discovering his exact double in a movie, and transplants it to Toronto for a tale of identity, sexuality and much more. And in this new, exclusive featurette we see how that transition came about.
Producer Niv Fichman takes the center of this behind-the-scenes look, explaining that Saramago had initially declined to give the film rights to any more of his books, at least until he saw how Fernando Meirelles‘ adaptation of “Blindness” turned out. The good news is that Fichman produced movie was well received by Saramago, and following that success, he was able to snag “The Double” for a feature film take. And from there, Villeneuve, star Jake Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Javier Gullón share how their input shaped the movie that’s coming just around the corner.
“Enemy” opens this Friday, March 14th. And if you’re in New York City, The Playlist will be hosting a screening of the film at the Angelika Theatre on Friday, at 7:50 PM featuring a discussion with Denis Villeneuve about the movie.
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