Hillary Swank (Madeline) looks nothing like Black Dhalia (Mia Kerschner)
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Skutter-2 — 11 years ago(September 19, 2014 11:56 PM)
Definitely. If they didn't keep mentioning this supposedly resemblance I would have no idea those characters were even meant to look alike. It was far from the only flaw in the movie but quite a big one, given how central it was to the plot.
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PattyGJones — 10 years ago(February 04, 2016 04:06 PM)
I do see the resemblance. But I don't know anything about Dushku's acting ability, which would have to be formidable to do what Hillary Swank did with this role, looks aside. I wish the film had some makeup people competent enough to make Hillary's eyes look bigger (do-able) and to do the prosthetic work required to give her broader cheeks (also do-able). That alone would have made a huge difference. But what really ticks me off is that they didn't even bother to curl Hillary's hair more or cut it to look something more like Kirschner's even wigs would have been better! This was really sloppy work, and it was so glaring that it noticeably detracted from what I thought was a wonderful movie. I can't fault anyone's acting, but the "look-alike" aspect was laughable.
I'm only in Show Biz by injection -
misbegotten — 10 years ago(July 12, 2015 07:55 AM)
Here's a thought: perhaps they should have cast Kerschner in
both
roles.
http://hexfan.proboards.com/ -
bob998 — 10 years ago(August 01, 2015 12:25 PM)
De Palma should have had Hilary Swank play both parts; it would have been easy since they have no scenes together. A major blunder on his part.
I liked Mia Kirschner's approach to her part, she brought out the wistfulness and need for affection the girl had. -
PattyGJones — 10 years ago(February 04, 2016 03:41 PM)
I didn't understand this casting at all. Both actresses did their jobs very well, but looked nothing like each other. What's weird is that with prosthetic makeup to broaden Swank's face and a hairdresser who knew what he/she was doing, they could have done a much more convincing job of creating "look-alikes" (or "look-a-lot-like-each-others"). Betty Short's hair, as shown in all the "screen tests", was shorter and much curlier than Madeline's; how hard could that have been to accomplish? This was unforgivably sloppy work. Too bad we couldn't have had a time warp for this film. Sherilyn Fenn did look
a lot
like Mia Kirschner, and probably had the chops to act the Madeline role as well as Swank did (Swank was terrific IMO), if only Fenn were 25 years younger.
I'm only in Show Biz by injection -
henrimaine — 9 years ago(October 28, 2016 07:11 PM)
Funny thing: after the scene where the police officer (Josh Hartnett) spots a blonde girl in the park, chases her down and takes her to the police station, I thought this blonde girl was supposed to be the one resembling Hillary Swank. The same girl also did these lesbian scenes with Elizabeth Short. The actress playing the blonde is Jemima Rooper. Google her name with Black Dahlia. You'll see that she looks quite like Hillary Swank. But apparently Elizabeth Short was still the one who was supposed to be Hillary Swanks lookalike.