Dual is the latest sci-fi adventure starring the queen of time travel, Karen Gillan, who has wowed audiences throughout her career from Doctor Who to the Guardians of The Galaxy franchise. In her latest thriller, which was written and directed by Riley Stearns (The Art of Self-Defense), she plays a terminally ill woman named Sarah who clones herself in order to spare her family the pain of losing her. Unfortunately, she didn’t plan on what might happen if her family didn’t have to lose her after all.
Gillan spoke to Screen Rant about her training process for Dual, her dance practice with costar Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), and her nostalgia being on the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
Screen Rant: I absolutely love this movie. What was the first thing you did or said after reading the script for the first time?
Karen Gillan: I think I was like, “Oh my God, I think I need to do this.” It was just like nothing I’ve ever read before, and the style of writing just felt like it would be a really fun challenge to make seem naturally – even though that’s not what we ended up doing. It’s extremely deadpan and robotic.
But I just wanted to take on that challenge and work with Riley Stearns, the director.
How did you craft Sarah? Because she does behave in this unique way.
Karen Gillan: Yeah, I think I was trying to figure that out beforehand. I was like, “Where do I pitch this? How do I deliver this? Is it really natural? Is it really robotic? I don’t know.”
And then I spoke to Riley Stearns, and I was like, “I can just do an impression of you.” So, the character is based on Riley, which feels apt because he wrote it.
That’s funny. What is the trick to being your own scene partner?
Karen Gillan: The trick is to work with an actor who’s really good – who’s not going to be seen, unfortunately, but they’re going to give you some good stuff to react off of – while also planning ahead. While I’m watching her, I’m thinking, “Yes, I’m going to do it like that, so let me react to that.” “Oh, I’m gonna do it differently to that, so let me react to the way I’m imagining I will do it in the future.”
There’s a lot of multitasking going on.
What would you do if you could hang out with a clone of yourself for a day? What would you talk about? What would you go do?
Karen Gillan: [laughs] I don’t know! It feels like there’s so many opportunities to prank people; to freak people. I’d probably go to my parents and freak them out, because that will be a funny reaction. See if my dog recognizes my clone; see if my dog likes my clone better than me. It’s possible.
You’ve gotta go Parent Trap your parents.
Karen Gillan: Yes, something. Something has to be done here.
Your random dance scene with Aaron Paul was so funny. How did that come together, and what was that like to film.
Karen Gillan: Oh my God, that dance sequence. We didn’t have that much time to make the movie, so we didn’t have that much time for dance rehearsals. We were kind of cramming it in on lunch breaks with the dance instructor, who was just outright laughing at us when we were dancing. It was the funniest thing.
We were really concentrating and giving it our all, and she’d be like, “Hahahaha, it’s so funny when you concentrate so hard!” We were like, “Are we that bad at dancing?” And the answer is yes. Yes, we were.
I liked your training video for this as well.
Karen Gillan: So random that I made a workout video. Yeah, I made a little workout video, and that was fun. I did a lot of training for the film, actually.
I wonder if you had to like scale back, because you’re so used to training for Nebula, who knows everything.
Karen Gillan: I remember I have really perfected a good run, and my hand position is now really cool-looking. Which was something that people pointed out, and I had to work on. So now, even in my real life, I run like an action hero.
I was like, “Wait a minute. Sarah wouldn’t look like an action hero!” So, let me just flail the arms around a little bit and make it more weird-looking.
I love that you run like Nebula. This isn’t the first time you’ve acted opposite yourself. Nebula, Doctor Who, maybe more. Why does this keep happening?
Karen Gillan: I don’t know. It’s the weirdest bit of typecasting I’ve ever seen in my life. But no, I keep meeting myself along the way. It might be that I work in the time travel and sci-fi genre. Maybe that’s why, but it feels like it’s happened a lot of times.
I don’t know, but I’ve definitely like gotten it down. So, that’s good.
Any more coming up?
Karen Gillan: Not that I know of, but maybe.
Speaking of Nebula, are you done with Guardians 3? You’re still filming?
Karen Gillan: We’re still filming. We’re almost done.
Is it bittersweet, since it could be the last time everyone is together as the Guardians that we know? What’s it like on that set?
Karen Gillan: It’s becoming quite nostalgic, I think. Just because we know that we’re in some way closing out a chapter, and a massive era of all of our lives, too. Yeah, it’s totally bittersweet, and everybody’s just trying to kind of take in every moment. We’re already nostalgic.
Do you know how many times total you’ve done that makeup application?
Karen Gillan: We worked out that it was at least 170 times. Probably more, if we’re counting reshoots for things and stuff like that.
James Gunn called the Holiday Special the greatest thing he’s ever done. Would you agree?
Karen Gillan: I mean, it could be! I haven’t seen it yet. I don’t know, but it’s totally possible that it is. I think it’s gonna be extremely funny.
What would it take for Nebula to have her own Disney+ show?
Karen Gillan: I don’t know, I guess Marvel will have to say yes. So, if you want to get them to do that? That would be great.
But I think I think Nebula has a really interesting backstory, so that would be really cool to learn more about.
What would you like audiences to know about Dual before they go in?
Karen Gillan: Dual is one of the more unique films, I think, that you will ever see. It’s darkly funny; the tone is really specific. It’s worth seeing for that. It’s a completely different experience from a lot of other movies.
Dual Synopsis
Upon receiving a terminal diagnosis, Sarah opts for a cloning procedure to ease her loss on her friends and family. When she makes a sudden and miraculous recovery, her attempts to decommission her clone fail, leading to a court-mandated duel to the death. Now, she has one year to train her mind and body for the fight of her life.
Check out our previous chats with Dual star Karen Gillan: Gunpowder Milkshake, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Guardians of The Galaxy.
Dual arrives in theaters on April 15.
