No sympathy for the "Devil." Dominic Cooper as Uday Hussein. Park City, Utah Director Lee Tamahori made his Sundance debut in 1995 with "Once Were Warriors," an intense indie drama about a violent Maori family in his native New Zealand. After years of directing such mainstream studio fare as "Die Another Day," "The Edge" and "Along Came a Spider," he returned to his indie roots Saturday with another story about a destructive clan, Saddam Hussein and his sons. "The Devil's Double," based on the true story of Uday Hussein's body double Latif Yahia, casts the story as a gaudy, blood-splashed 1980s gangster picture. In remarks after the screening, Tamahori calls the film a study of "a very odd and bizarre personality cult of very rich and dangerous gangsters." The film, based on Yahia's autobiography, is packed with scenes of torture and orgies that would make Caligula blush. It was all based on a reality "far worse than we could possibly portray," Tamahori said. While researcing the film he developed a fascination with the Mobutus, Duvaliers and Ceauşescus and their monstrous children, but found that "such an unpalatable story" was challenging to finance. It was shot in Malta, a convincing stand-in for Iraq, and the Maltese government provided generous production subsidies. In a breakout double performance actor, Dominic Cooper plays both Uday – a coked-up cross between Tony Montana and Bugs Bunny -- and his looklike, an upright Iraqi soldier who was disgusted by the psychotic sadist. In a further wrinkle, Cooper plays strong, quiet Latif playing the manic Uday. Cooper said he found it curiously "exhilirating" to play "such a repulsive human being," but more difficult to watch his prince-and-pauper performance. "It's very odd whenever you see yourself onscreen," Cooper said. "It's you prancing around being ridiculous. And then when there's two of you prancing around being ridiculous it's even more difficult."
