Orphan Black
Orphan Black was a science fiction series, produced by BBC America.[1] The series centres around clones, all played by Tatiana Maslany, who were separated at birth.
The clones personalities have become wildly divergent. Most of the clones are being clandestinely monitored by the Corporation that spawned them.
Episode one begins with a clone, a con artist, one of a pair of twins, who was smuggled out of the program, observing a woman who looks just like her, commit suicide by walking in front of a commuter train. She decides to assume the well dressed dead woman's identity, only to discover she was a police officer.
During the series five seasons Maslany portrays thirteen different clones, and was widely praised for her ability to portray thirteen different characters so well, that viewers could distinguish between them merely through her acting, and makeup and wardrobe choices.[2]
Maslany told interviewers she prepared a different mix-tape of songs to listen to, to prepare for performing as each clone, that she listened to in the makeup chair.
Film historians compared her performance to that of Alec Guiness in the film Kind hearts and coronets, where a distant relative to a peer, in the United Kingdom, slowly murders multiple relatives, all played by Alec Guinness, so he can assume the title.[3] At the time the film was made technology allowed several versions of Guinness to appear in the same room, by having him appear, in different costumes, before multiple cameras. But Guinness was not able to move around these rooms, the cameras had to remain in fixed locations.
By the time Orphan Black was made technology enabled cameras to repeat exactly the same movement and tracking, so Maslany could move around rooms. Maslany had another actor, who was the same height and build as her, who would be used in shots where two clones were fighting or otherwise in close proximity to one another. These scenes would be filmed multiple times with the two actors switching places, and switching costumes, so the faces of both clones could appear in the fight.
A spinoff series, Orphan Black: Echoes, with a new cast, set in 2052, is scheduled to premiere in 2024.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Katrina Magat. 'Orphan Black: Echoes': Release Window, Cast, Trailer, and Everything We Know So Far, Collider, 2023-19-15. Retrieved on 2023-12-22. mirror
- ↑ Saloni Gajjar. Orphan Black: Echoes welcomes Krysten Ritter to the clone club, AV Club, 2023-03-30. Retrieved on 2023-12-22.
- ↑ Mike Hale. Versatility Is a Virtue in Fantasy of Identity, New York Times, 2014-04-18, p. C1. Retrieved on 2023-12-22. “It’s the kind of performance feat that many people find appealing for its own sake, but if you look past the gee-whiz facade, you can’t help noticing that Ms. Maslany isn’t exactly channeling Alec Guinness in “Kind Hearts and Coronets” (or Jefferson Mays in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” if you prefer).”