Stand-ins and photo doubles are the unsung heroes of any TV show or movie. Their job is to imitate the principal actors’ movements, gestures, and acting style so the cinematographer can effectively set up the scene. Well, one director was going to do more than just give stand-ins more than just money for their hard work, on set of the new Stephen King TV series Mr. Mercedes, the director of the season finale upgraded two of the stand-ins on the show to speaking roles.
Casting director Tona B. Dahlquist revealed the news on Facebook last week saying “Mr. Mercedes (Charleston, SC) Congrats to William and Dean! These two worked as Stand Ins on the series and were upgraded to speaking roles in the Season Finale episode.”
It is important to note that this is the third time the director of the series upgraded background actors to speaking roles on the show.
Mr. Mercedes, based on Stephen King’s 2014 book of the same name, follows a deranged killer who taunts a retired police detective with a series of lurid letters and emails, forcing the ex-cop to undertake a private, and potentially felonious, crusade to bring the killer to justice before he can strike again.
It seems nowadays more directors are choosing to upgrade background actors to principal roles. In fact, a few months ago Tyler Perry upgraded to background actors to principal roles on an undisclosed production.
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