Hollywood is home to many celebrity lookalikes that you’re almost certainly certain you’ve never seen in the same setting. both Jessica Chastain and Bryce Dallas Howard. Dylan McDermott and Dermot Mulroney. Of course there are the group of large-eyed, blonde-haired women who all somewhat resemble Margot Robbie. But now that Samara Weaving has been hired in the Damien Chazelle-directed 1920s Hollywood epic Babylon, which also stars Robbie and Brad Pitt, we’ll get to witness one of Robbie’s twins appear in the same room as her.
Weaving, Max Minghella, Lukas Haas, Flea (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers fame), Rory Scovel, Eric Roberts, P.J. Byrne, and Damon Gupton have reportedly joined the now-expansive cast of Babylon, director Damien Chazelle’s homage to the glory days of Hollywood, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The new cast members join Robbie, Pitt, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, and Katherine Waterston who were already cast.
Babylon, director Damien Chazelle’s much awaited sequel to First Man, will begin production this month in Los Angeles under the banner of Paramount Pictures. The historical drama, which was written and directed by Chazelle, is set in the late 1920s “during the cinema industry’s shift from silent films to talkies.” Babylon is slated to examine “the rise and fall of various personalities,” both fictional and historical, and has been compared to “The Great Gatsby on steroids” (which, to be honest, we already got with Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby).
The most of the parts for the newcomers are being kept a secret, but according to THR, Minghella is portraying Irving Thalberg, the renowned real-life producer who served as MGM’s chief of production in the 1920s and 1930s and is the inspiration for the Oscars’ esteemed Irving G. Thalberg Award. The Handmaid’s Tale star, who, aside from being able to compete with Elisabeth Moss in that Hulu series, generally turns in strong performances in movies like Spiral and The Social Network, looks to be a good fit for the role.
There isn’t much more to say about this group of new Babylon cast members other the fact that Weaving and Robbie’s inclusion in the same film is likely to result in considerable confusion. It would be absurd if they weren’t portraying sisters or some other type of kinship. Weaving is a developing star in her own right, giving a breakout performance in 2019’s terrific Ready or Not, except from the fact that she shares that distinction with like five other people and looks a lot like Robbie.
Babylon is being produced by Olivia Hamilton, Matt Plouffe, and Marc Platt, with Tobey Maguire, Helen Estabrook, and Adam Siegel serving as executive producers. Prior to its January 6, 2023 wide release, Paramount intends a restricted release on December 25, 2022.
