Armie Hammer as the Winklevoss Twins

EW has the inside scoop on how David Fincher managed to use visual effects to turn one actor (Armie Hammer) into two:

According to director David Fincher, it was simple — although keep in mind that this is the same guy who put Brad Pitt’s face on a baby in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Hammer played the main twin in each shot. For shots that included both twins at the same time, Pence stood in for the second twin; Hammer later went into a studio, where he strapped his head into a harness to film that twin’s face and voice, which was then digitally superimposed over Pence’s face in the film. The result is a sort of hybrid actor with Hammer’s head and Pence’s body. Intricate split-screens and rotoscoping were also used for some shots. Piece of cake, right? “After Benjamin Button, you go, ‘It can be done,’” says Fincher. “Give us a case of Red Bull and a weekend, and we’ll figure this out.”

The director insists that he didn’t use all this CGI wizardry just for kicks. “For a long time, I held out for this idea that we were going to find two 6’5″ 220-pound scullers who were going to be able to act,” he laughs. “So we looked and we looked and we looked and finally, probably about four weeks out from shooting, I just said, this is crazy. We’re never going to be able to get [it]. We need an actor. We need one person to play two people.”

There is an upside to the success of The Social Network – it’s made all of the real people involved into legends. What’s that line from The Insider about infamy? Hammer is brilliant in the role(s). EW asks the question whether he’s in line for a supporting nod. He might have been if there weren’t two other actors who are next in line behind Eisenberg. There isn’t a weak link to be found in The Social Network, which means that almost every actor in it is worthy of a nomination.