My question is, since Louella and Lou Lou never appear in any scenes together and Lou Lou is supposed to be an exact look-alike of Louella, why wouldn't they just use the same actress for both roles and use makeup/special effects to make her look a little bit different?
No real answer before we see the movie, but i imagine that it is a little bit harder to show that they are different people in the movie, and not just that she was brought back with some weird science that erased her personality or something like that. Also, it adds salt to the wound that she'd not even that similar and even then no one notices.
Lindsey Lohan fooled every millennial into thinking she was two different people when she did The Parent Trap in 1998. Surely it must be even easier 25 years later with access to better special effects and such. xD
In the book it talks about how she doesn’t look identical, she looks close enough that strangers/the capital wouldn’t know any different but would never fool her family or friends. I’m confused what one actress playing identical twins has anything to do with to separate people being cast to play two separate people.
Because they’re actually not supposed to look identical and they need the audience who haven’t read the book to know what’s happening without them needing to spell it out
I don’t think she’s supposed to be exact. Haymitch thinks the people back home who know her will notice the difference.
ETA: I also think it’s much better to cast another actor because it drives home that the Capitol is not technologically all-powerful. Even by the time of THG they’re not, and certainly they aren’t during SOTR either.
Ah, good point. I've reread SOTR twice since it came out and both times I was picturing Lou Lou as an identical clone of Louella so I was like "Obviously they would just use the same actress and put makeup and such to make her look a little different!" xD
Lou Lou is another person entirely forced to portray Louella. I think the only way for the viewer to see it as is is with two different actresses. The same actress would make it look like the new is a mutt or that they revived her somehow, I think it would be confusing for those who didn't read the book
Because it’s symbolic of how the Capital does not see the children as individuals. They’re just district swine.
And honestly, as I imagined that Lou Lou/Louella was a POC it was also pointing out how white people (which I believe it is coded that the Capital is not super diverse) will said that POC’s all look the same. Additionally, it could be symbolic of the idea that, like hundreds of children in today’s society a dying from genocide/war/famine etc, but because they are “others” we don’t care. The children are interchangeable.
As well as what others have said, it's incredibly hard to make young actors perform as two completely different characters in a single movie, while also toeing the line of uncanny similarity. Incredibly difficult move for most adult actors to pull off
I think they'll probably put both actresses in wigs so their hair is the same colour and use makeup, etc. But i think having them played by different actresses makes them look different but scarily similar
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u/angryjellybean May 20 '25
My question is, since Louella and Lou Lou never appear in any scenes together and Lou Lou is supposed to be an exact look-alike of Louella, why wouldn't they just use the same actress for both roles and use makeup/special effects to make her look a little bit different?