Below are some movies in which twins play an important role. Listing these movies here does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the Washington State Twin Registry.
Adaptation (2002)
Director Spike Jonze delivers a stunningly original comedy that seamlessly blends fictional characters and situations with the lives of real people: obsessive orchid hunter John Laroche (Cooper), New Yorker journalist Susan Orlean (Streep), Hollywood screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Cage), and his twin brother, Donald (also Cage). As Charlie struggles to adapt Orlean’s best-selling book “The Orchid Thief,” he writes himself into his own movie.
Big Business (1988)
Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin star in this critically acclaimed box office hit about two sets of identical twins who are mismatched at birth. Forty years later, their paths cross amid the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, and the result is unrestrained pandemonium.
Blades of Glory (2007)
When rival figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Heder) go ballistic in an embarrassing, no-holds-barred fight at the World Championships, they are stripped of their gold medals and banned from the sport for life. Now, three-and-a-half years on, they’ve found a loophole that will allow them to compete: if they can put aside their differences, they can skate together – in pairs’ figure skating. The two rivals team up to go against the twin brother-and-sister team of Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg (played by Arnett and Poehler). The Van Waldenbergs will stop at nothing to beat the competition, even if that means literally beating up the competition.
The Dark Mirror
Olivia De Havilland plays twin sisters in this entertaining psychological film noir. The twins are implicated in a Hollywood murder and a police detective (Thomas Mitchell) must figure out if one or both were involved in the killing.
Dead Ringer
Bette Davis stars in a dual role as a pair of evil twins–a jealous murderer and her wealthy widowed sister, her Dead Ringer.Twenty years ago, twins Edith and Margaret Phillips (Davis) both loved the same handsome, wealthy man. Margaret won the competition when she falsely claimed to be pregnant. Now Edith, envious of her recently widowed sister’s life and wealth, murders Margaret and assumes her identity. But can she play the role well enough to fool suspicious police sergeant Hobbson (Karl Malden) and handsome, gold-digging playboy Tony Collins (Peter Lawford)?
Dead Ringers
In Dead Ringers, David Cronenberg tells the chilling story of identical twin gynecologists-suave Elliot and sensitive Beverly, bipolar sides of one personality-who share the same practice, the same apartment, the same women. When a new patient, glamorous actress Claire Niveau, challenges their eerie bond, they descend into a whirlpool of sexual confusion, drugs, and madness. Jeremy Irons’ tour-de-force performance-as both twins-raises disturbing questions about the nature of personal identity.
Dominick and Eugene
Twin brothers, one brain-damaged from an accident, and the other a medical student, have their bond of love tested when the doctor is offered a position at Stanford.
Double Impact (1991)
Identical twins are separated at six months and raised on different continents. They reunite twenty-five years later to avenge the murder of their parents and reclaim their stolen family fortune.
It Takes Two (1995)
Two young girls who happen to look identical bump into each other in the woods and decide to swap households so they can play matchmaker to their single parents.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
DiCaprio plays dual roles as the despotic King Louis XIV, who rules France with an iron fist, and the king’s twin brother, Philippe, who languishes in prison under an iron mask, his identity concealed to prevent an overthrow of Louis’ throne.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
In 1964, Dr. David Henry (Dermot Mulroney) separated his daughter from her twin brother to hide the daughter’s Down Syndrome from his wife. Entrusting the baby to a nurse (Emily Watson), David cut off all contact to focus on his wife (Gretchen Mol)and his son. Over the next 25 years, his disabled daughter grows into a beautiful adult while David watches the rest of his family fall apart, knowing he can never reveal his darkest secret.
Our Relations (1936)
Comedy of errors ensues when two wanderlust sailors delivering a pearl ring cross paths with their long lost twin brothers, now respectable and happily married men.
The Pact of Silence
Gérard Depardieu stars as a Jesuit priest, Dr. Joachim Ferrer. Harboring a secret from his violent past and having found solace in the church, he soon finds himself caught in a web of intrigue when a young Carmelite nun, Sarah, is rushed to his hospital. Suffering from inexplicable pain and delusions, Joachim recognizes in Sarah the familiar symptoms of repression and denial. What no one knows is the terrifying secret she carries inside her, a secret her twin sister Gaelle, three-thousand miles away, also shares.
The Parent Trap (1961)
Mills stars as Susan and Sharon, identical twins separated at birth. Neither twin knows the other exists until a simple twist of fate finds them at the same summer camp. Then, realizing who they are, they plan a little twist of their own. They switch places with high hopes of getting their parents back together.
The Parent Trap (1998)
Hallie Parker, a hip Californian, and Annie James, a proper London miss (both played by Lohan) are identical twins who don’t even know each other exists — until they accidentally meet at summer camp. Now they’re up to their freckles in schemes and dreams to switch places, get their parents (Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson) back together, and have the family they’ve always wished for!
The Prince of Tides
Nolte plays a disillusioned football coach who confronts his tortured childhoodin order to help his troubled sister. Streisand is the determined psychiatrist who battles his resentment and rage in search of the truth.
She’s The Man (2006)
The laughs are non-stop when Viola (Bynes), disguised as her twin brother, Sebastian (James Kirk), joins the high school boys’ soccer team and helps win the big game while unexpectedly falling for Duke (Channing Tatum) the hot star forward.
Skeleton Twins
When estranged twins Maggie and Milo feel they’re at the end of their ropes, an unexpected reunion forces them to confront why their lives went so wrong. As the twins reconnect, they realize the key to fixing their lives may just lie in repairing their relationship.
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (1977-1983)
The STAR WARS saga concludes with Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, aided by an unforgettable assortment of courageous characters, lead the Rebellion to bring balance back to the Force!
A Stolen Life
Davis portrays twin sisters Kate and Pat: the first good and the other, if not exactly evil, a vain vixen who’s landed the husband (Glenn Ford) Kate wanted. One fateful day a storm comes up while the sisters are boating, Pat drowns and Kate grabs her chance to steal her sister’s identity – and husband.
Twelfth Night: Or What You Will
When she lands in a foreign country, Viola dresses as her brother and adopts the name Cesario, becoming a trusted friend and confidante to the Count Orsino. Orsino is madly in love with the lady Olivia, who is in mourning due to her brother’s recent death, which she uses as an excuse to avoid seeing the count, whom she does not love. He sends Cesario to do his wooing, and Olivia falls in love with the disguised maiden. Things get more complicated in this bittersweet Shakespeare comedy when a moronic nobleman, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and a self-important servant, Malvolio, get caught up in the schemes of Olivia’s cousin, the obese, alcoholic Sir Toby, who leads each to believe Olivia loves him. As well, Sebastian surfaces in the area, and of course there is Feste, the wise fool, around to keep everything in perspective and to marvel, like we the audience, at the amazing things happening all around.
Twins (1988)
An ambitious genetic experiment takes the wrong turn when two twins – who look nothing alike – are born and then separated. Years later, the unlikely siblings meet: Julius, a highly educated but sheltered giant with a big heart, and Vincent, a pint-sized hustler with an insatiable lust for women and money. With girlfriends in tow and a hitman on their tail, the newfound brothers set off on a wild, cross-country misadventure to find their mother – but end up finding out more about themselves.
Twin Sisters
Twin Sisters (De Tweeling) is the emotional and provocative story that tells the tale of two sisters who must come to terms with their fate amid the heat of World War II. Lotte and Anna become orphans by the age of 6. One is sent to live a life of privilege with wealthy relatives in the Netherlands, while the other stays in Germany to face a harsh existence on her uncle’s farm. When they reconnect years later, they not only discover that their lives have taken drastically different paths but, following Germany’s invasion of Holland, they find themselves pitted on opposite sides of the war.