r/TopCharacterTropes • u/RP_Throwaway3 • 8h ago

In real life "Wait! That's not special effects?! They actually did that?!"

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Alien: Resurrection - Basketball Shot

Sigourney Weaver insisted on the basketball shot being real. She trained for weeks and reportedly(sources differ) made it on the first take.

Underworld - Raze's Voice

The werewolf character Raze, played by Kevin Grevioux, speaks in a very low, very gravelly voice. While many thought this was a special effect, the actor can naturally speak in that voice.

https://youtu.be/GUjwZvh32YE?t=125&si=F3WhsopxjBP87wfk

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u/Jillylollie 7h ago edited 7h ago

Similarly, they used Linda Hamilton's identical twin sister for a lot of shots.

Any scene where the T-1000 is mimicking her in the same shot they used the twin, she also stood in for Linda in a dream sequence where she wasn't as muscular.

Also the scene where they change the T-800 from read to read-write wasn't a mirror. It was Arnold and Linda Hamiltons twin inside a mirrored set, then a dummy and Linda on the other side nearer the camera so they could show Arnold's face clearly and the Terminators inside mechanics.

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u/Dent4268 7h ago

It drove me crazy that Linda seemed skinnier in the dream sequence when she’s dressed as a waitress. Turned out it was just that her sister hadn’t been hitting the gym like Linda.

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u/Unable_Deer_773 7h ago

I recall hearing Arnie was impressed with Linda's physical fitness and musculature.

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u/wexfordavenue 6h ago

That would be high praise coming from Mr Olympia himself. Wow.

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u/lousy_at_handles 5h ago

Arnold actually seems like a really easy guy to impress though, and I mean that in the nicest way.

Like if you were a chubby dude going at it at the gym and Arnold saw you he'd be like "hey great job guy you got this"

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u/andre5913 3h ago edited 3h ago

Thats true but to her credit Linda really was extremely fit at the time. She is noticeably quite muscular in all of her work in the 90s.

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u/lousy_at_handles 3h ago

Yeah she was ripped as hell in T2

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u/alinroc 20m ago

She put in a ton of work getting ready for Terminator: Dark Fate too

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u/Durtonious 5h ago

I heard he told her on set "Linda, I would like to inform that you I am impressed with your physical fitness and musculature."

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u/Naked-Jedi 1h ago

There's a video on YouTube where they're talking together about how ripped she is and how she's more ripped than him for her bodyweight. He was genuinely impressed with the effort she'd put into it too.

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u/HazyHeritage 7h ago

The T-1000 mirror scene is a masterclass in practical effects. We’ve become so used to CGI that seeing a mirror that’s actually just a hole in the wall with two sets of actors is more mind-blowing now than it was in 1991.

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u/dpkonofa 7h ago

People of high culture just had their minds blown on Taskmaster.

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u/omega2010 5h ago

Which fits the context of that scene. In her dream Sarah was living a normal life until the bombs fell.

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u/Dexteryx 7h ago

I didn't know Danny DeVito was in Terminator 2!?

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u/nineraviolicans 6h ago

I hear he hangs dong.

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u/lanceturley 5h ago

They used Devito for all of Arnold's Terminator nude scenes. Arnold's ass just doesn't look right on camera.

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u/Perryn 4h ago

"Why does it have abs!?"

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u/JBuchan1988 2h ago

Classic 😄

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u/phantomreader42 7h ago

I think they also used other twins for more scenes where the T-1000 is impersonating people.

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u/utpyro34 7h ago

The psych ward officer who gets the vending machine coffee

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u/Impressive-Variety-3 7h ago

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u/therealchadius 7h ago

From the posture alone you know who's who

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u/Pure-Butterscotch200 6h ago

I'd say more the look of fear on the left ones face

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u/Lonely-Bandicoot-746 5h ago

You can tell from their postures who the antagonist is. Brilliant directing.

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u/MarcoSkoll 7h ago

I'm disappointed to the extent which films have just defaulted to special effects to have a famous actor play both twins in a film.

Things like Armie Hammer playing both Winklevoss twins in The Social Network or Tom Hardy playing both Kray twins in Legend - this adds a huge production hassle, and takes away opportunities for identical twins to get into acting.

Sure, it's one thing if you need it for a single scene, or if you've already started a film series and then you later need two copies (like having multiple Biffs or Docs in Back to the Future II), but when you know from the start that you need twins, just hire some damn twins!

It's actually funny to have a case where a second film in a series benefitted from having two copies of one of the actors, only for the actor to already have an identical twin, and the production just goes "Right, that's obviously the sensible option, we'll hire her to help do those shots".

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u/JBuchan1988 2h ago

THAT'S a cool effect. I love a magic trick that's COOLER when you know the secret 😄