From biopics to body-swap movies, there's a rich tradition of different actors playing the same part in movies. Does it help tell a story, or does it distract when viewers are too busy trying to spot the join?
'Love and Mercy' tells the story of pop genius Brian Wilson's troubled but ultimately triumphant life, with Paul Dano and John Cusack sharing duties to portray the Beach Boy at different times of his life. Paul Dano (who also appears in BBC epic 'War and Peace) has collected a Golden Globe nomination for bringing Brian to life during his most inspired early adulthood, while John Cusack is equally effective in depicting the isolated legend at a far more troubled time.
Here are ten films where different performers have played the same part pretty successfully... who do you think is most effective at sharing the screen?
Actors Sharing The Same Role On Screen
Paul Dano and John Cusack In 'Love And Mercy' (2015)(01 of10)
Director Bill Pohlad's unconventional biopic of Beach Boy Brian Wilson casts two actors in the role to play the singer-songwriter at very different points in his life. Dano plays Wilson in the 1960s, at the height of his musical creativity and just beginning to experience the onset of mental illness, while Cusack plays Wilson as he was in the 1980s, mentally and physically exhausted, and under the control of abusive psychologist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti). While the physical resemblance between the pair is not strong, the effect works surprisingly well, suggesting an almost psychotic break between the two phases of Wilson's life.
River Phoenix, Harrison Ford in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' (1989)(02 of10)
In the opening sequence to Spielberg's third Indiana Jones movie, River Phoenix plays a young, teenage version of Harrison Ford's indomitable adventurer, getting into a scrape on a train, during which he acquires his distinctive hat and whip, gaining a lasting fear of snakes and ending up with a nasty scar on his chin, echoing Ford's real-life scar. The sequence also cleverly sets up Indy's fractious relationship with his Holy Grail-obsessed father (Sean Connery), which forms the heart of the film. It's hard to imagine more perfect casting, with Phoenix nailing all of Ford's facial expressions and mannerisms.
Jennifer Connelly and Elizabeth McGovern in 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984)(03 of10)
At the age of 14, Jennifer Connelly made her screen debut playing young Deborah Gelly, the lifelong love interest of main character and gangster-to-be David 'Noodles' Aaronson (played by Scott Tiler) in Sergio Leone's New York gangster epic 'Once Upon a Time in America'. When the characters reach adulthood, Noodles is played by Robert De Niro, while Deborah is played by 'Downton Abbey's Elizabeth McGovern. Tiler looks nothing like De Niro, but the resemblance between Connelly and McGovern is jaw-dropping, so much so that it's hard not to believe that it played a part in Connelly's initial casting.
Jennifer Lawrence and Charlize Theron in 'The Burning Plain' (2008)(04 of10)
For his directorial debut, screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga cast then unknown Jennifer Lawrence to play the young version of Charlize Theron in this emotionally engaging drama about a restaurant manager with a tragic past. From the perspective of 2015, it seems completely logical that Jennifer Lawrence would grow up into Charlize Theron, but the film isn't aiming for a close resemblance, instead keeping their connection a mystery throughout the majority of the plot, with fractured timelines and the two characters having different names. So the fact that they're both playing the same woman is actually something of a spoiler. Sorry about that.
Rob Lowe and Robert Wagner in 'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me' (1999)(05 of10)
Jay Roach's 1997 comedy 'Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery' gave former Hollywood heart-throb Robert Wagner a gift of a comedic supporting role as eye-patch-sporting Number Two, the dim-witted henchman to Mike Myers' Blofeld-alike villain, Dr. Evil. The 1999 sequel's time-travel plot allowed for the inspired casting of former Hollywood heart-throb Rob Lowe as Young Number Two (complete with eye-patch), ignoring the fact that Lowe had had an unbilled comedy cameo as "Decapitated Henchman's Friend" in the first film. The casting itself is the gag here and Lowe plays up their resemblance to maximum comic effect.
Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones in 'Men In Black 3' (2012)(06 of10)
Barry Sonnenfeld's 'Men In Black' three-quel is another example of an inspired casting decision facilitated by a time-travel plot. When Agent J (Will Smith) awakes in a world without Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), he travels back in time to the 1960s, where the younger K is played by none other than Josh Brolin. Once again, the casting is a large part of the gag (as well as the younger K being significantly less grouchy than his future self), but Brolin's imitation is so note-perfect that it occasionally feels like you really are watching a 1960s version of Tommy Lee Jones.
Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart in 'Titanic' (1997)(07 of10)
James Cameron's epic romance is framed with present day sequences in which 100 year-old Rose Dawson Calvert (Gloria Stuart) recounts her experiences aboard the Titanic as a young woman. Kate Winslet plays Rose as a 17 year-old, and given their supposed 8- year age gap, the lack of resemblance between the two is never really an issue. Notably, the film set two Oscar records: 87-year-old Stuart became the oldest woman ever to be nominated for an Oscar and she and Winslet were the first actresses to be nominated for Oscars for playing the same character.
Marcus Carl Franklin, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, and Ben Whishaw in 'I'm Not There' (2007)(08 of10)
For his unconventional 2007 biopic, 'Carol' director Todd Haynes cast six different actors to play various aspects of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan throughout his life and career. Their physical differences are more or less irrelevant, since the contrast is deliberate, while their resemblance to Dylan is...well, let's say varied. For example, Cate Blanchett's Jude is uncannily similar to the scruffy-haired 1960s version of Dylan we're most familiar with and Bale resonates strongly as protest song icon Jack, while Richard Gere's Billy is just flat-out confusing as a man who spends most of his time chasing his dog in the Wild West.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis in 'Looper' (2012)(09 of10)
For his 2012 time-travel thriller, future 'Star Wars: Episode VIII' director Rian Johnson cast Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Joe, an assassin in 2043 Kansas City, whose life gets more than a little confusing after he fails to kill his future self, played by Bruce Willis. The production employed both hours of prosthetic make-up and digital trickery to make Gordon-Levitt resemble the younger Willis, but their efforts backfired considerably, as the make-up job is ultimately more distracting than the lack of resemblance would have been in the first place.
Zac Efron and Matthew Perry in '17 Again' (2009)(10 of10)
Burr Steers' amusing 2009 body-swap comedy stars Matthew Perry as a middle-aged guy whose marriage to his high-school sweetheart (Leslie Mann) has hit the skids and whose teenage kids (Michelle Trachtenberg and Sterling Knight) don't seem to like him very much. After wishing he could be a teenager again, Mike falls into a magical whirlpool (don't ask) and is magically transformed into the 17-year-old version of himself, played by Zac Efron (then hot off 'High School Musical'). Physically, they're not much alike, but Efron is surprisingly convincing as the younger Perry, perfectly capturing the former 'Friends' star's wise-cracking charisma.
Love and Mercy is out now on Blu-ray and DVD