“Seven Sisters” is one of Noomi Rapace’s recent standout roles. Released in 2017, the feature film tells the story of seven sisters, all played by the actress. But then, how was Noomi Rapace duplicated?
Seven Sisters : an intriguing blockbuster
In 2017, the filmmaker Tommy Wirkola launches into the production of Seven Sisters. After movies like Dead Snow and Hensel & Gretel: Witch Huntersthis Norwegian filmmaker falls into the deep end with Seven Sisters. An American blockbuster notably worn by Glenn Close, Willem Dafoe and obviously Noomi Rapace in seven different roles. If the critics received the film fairly well, on the box office side, it brought in “only” $27 million in revenue.
The feature film tells how, in 2073, the Earth is overpopulated. Governments then decided to establish a one-child policy. Faced with the birth of septuplets, Terrence Settman prefers to keep the existence of his seven daughters secret. The 7 sisters, growing up, then take turns going outside their apartment day after day, simulating the existence of a single person: Karen Settman.
The great strength of Seven Sisters it is obviously the presence of Noomi Rapace. The former star of Millennium is here responsible for embodying seven different characters within one story. A first for her. The actress has a field day and is very convincing in front of Tommy Wirkola’s camera. But then, how did the filmmaker manage to duplicate his actress?
Noomi Rapace in all roles
To give the illusion that Noomi Rapace is playing all the characters at the same time, she was modeled by computer. On the tray, she was working opposite understudy. A technical dimension that requires a certain concentration, and above all perfect synchronization as told Noomi Rapace in 2017 :
If we shoot a scene with doubles, I have to show them beforehand what I plan to do. I have to give them instructions, show them how to move, how to sit and when to get up. I have an overview of the scene. I have to look at it from different angles and that’s a lot of responsibility. Tommy and I, we constantly tell ourselves that we must not let the technical aspect take over. In the end, it’s the relationship between the sisters that matters most.
Obviously, the presence of the linings is not sufficient. To present seven identical characters, Tommy Wirkola and his team have developed a unique filming system combining different methods. Jose David Montero, the director of photography, provides some details on this approach:
In a traditional film, you can afford to cheat all the time with the light and the background. But here, it’s impossible because once you stabilize the camera and increase the brightness, you can’t touch anything until the end of the sequence. With the duplication effect and the different overlapping layers, if we change anything, it doesn’t work anymore, and we have to start all over again, which makes us fall behind enormously. The other difficulty is shooting in an enclosed and restricted space. We want to give the impression that the ceilings have concealed depths, so that the space shrinks. We needed three cameras, sometimes four, a green background, a blue background, and lighting. Suffice to say that it was very complicated to manage all that at the same time.
A process that requires time and perseverance. But the result is worth the work. Seven Sisters is effective entertainment, especially thanks to this duplication of Noomi Rapace. As for her, she once again offers an impressive interpretation!
