Ah,the infamous love triangle. Those can never end well — especially if two of the three are twin siblings and one of them is sexually ravenous (and then some). It’s no wonder these notions are explored in erotic fiction, which in turn become reliable sellers. Certain steamy novels likeFifty Shades of Greyhave then been adapted to the big screen. And more recently,The Image of Youstarted as a best-selling novel by Adele Parks MBE and is now a feature film, directed byJeff Fisherandstarring Sasha Pieterseas twin sisters Anna and Zoe.
A sort of dual protagonist is Nick (Parker Young), who Anna meets on a dating app; so begins a twisted love affair with surprises we won’t spoil here. We recently caught up with director Fisher and co-star Young in separate interviews to learn more about those hot and steamy sex scenes and the classic films that served to inspire Fisher’s vision forThe Image of You.
A Rom-Com That Gets ‘Way More Twisted’
The Image of You
The Image of You is a drama film that follows the story of a successful businesswoman, played by Meredith Edwards, who begins to question her identity and relationships after being confronted with a mysterious stranger who claims to be her exact duplicate.
SinceThe Image of Youstarted as a novel, we were curious if Fisher and Young started there, or instead with the screenplay when first approached about the project. “I started reading the book, and there are a lot of similarities in the beginning,” Young told MovieWeb. “And then I found out that the end actually changes a lot from the book, so that when they adapted the screenplay,they made it extra twisted and dark. And so I just abandoned the book at a certain point and just focused on the script.”
“I hadn’t read Adele’s book yet. I read the script first, and I loved it,” Fisher also told us. “And then I went and read the book right after, and it was interesting. And Chris [Sivertson] the screenwriter had already taken a few left turns with a script, but it was really interesting to read the book. And just because the way Adele wrote it, it’s very omniscient. You’re in the head of each character. So it gave me a lot of great extra context.”
Young went on to comment on the unique ways in which he was drawn to the content initially:
“It sort of starts off like a cute little romantic comedy, and then it just gets a little darker and a little more twisted, and a little darker and way more twisted. And yeah, man,it terrified me reading it. And the prospect of trying to bring it to life, I think, terrified me even more, which is also what drew me to it.”
Fisher would help explain why Young uses a strong word like “twisted” to describe the nature of the finished screenplay forThe Image of You. “It gave like ’90s thriller vibes, likeBasic Instinct, Fatal Attraction,andBody Heat, and then back to the film noir of the ’40s,” Fisher told us. “I was traumatized by a lot ofBrian De Palma movieswhen I was young, and obviously, I think I wasinfluenced by Alfred Hitchcock. So just all of them kind of were playing in my head when we were trying to figure this out.”
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Parker Young Breaks Down the Film’s Wild Sex Scenes
For Young, it was figuring out how to pull off those outrageous sex scenes with at least one of the twin sisters as his relationship with the Anna/Zoe clan develops in unorthodox ways. “If there was anything that she was uncomfortable with or concerned about, I wanted her to feel safe enough to just share that with me,” said Young in thinking about working with star Sasha Pieterse behind-the-scenes. He elaborated:
“There were a lot of romantic scenarios. And that’s always interesting to navigate, you know? You don’t want to make Sasha feel uncomfortable. You’ve got to do some pretty risqué stuff. Simulated sex and all of that is a little bit uncomfortable at times, when you’re in an elevator dry-humping somebody you just met. It’s an interesting business, for sure.”
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“Butwe’re fortunate now that intimacy coordinators are a big part of moviemaking now,” added Young. “So we had an incredible intimacy coordinator who was there, and we choreographed all of the sex scenes and made sure that both of us felt comfortable with everything. She was there on set, and we just did everything we needed to do to try to make it feel as safe and comfortable as possible, so that we can tell the story as best as we could.”
For Jeff Fisher, those erotic scenes were, of course, a challenge from a director’s standpoint, but in this modern age, there is now additional help on set. “Celeste was our intimacy coordinator. She was great. I was very grateful to have her there,” said Fisher. “Parker and Sasha could kind of have private conversations about what those scenes were going to be, making sure that they were comfortable, and also really kind of going in with a plan like that. They would never want to wing that, you know? I’d never want to go, ‘Oh, let’s figure it out on the day,’ but making sure that they felt good, protected and heard. And so Celeste… was a great creative partner to try and make that a reality.”
Jeff Fisher on Filming Sasha Pieterse as Twins
Another challenge for Fisher was pulling off the realistic look of Pieterse playing identical sisters, sometimes interacting in the same room in close proximity. “The twin stuff is a little nerve-wracking from a technical standpoint. But it was exciting to see it kind of come to life,” Fisher told us. “I needed to do a lot of research, and I needed to ask a lot of questions.” He continued:
“And it was interesting, really,to learn about the evolution of shooting twinsfrom something like the originalParent Trapwith Hayley Mills, or there’sDead Ringerwith Bette Davis also, where they had that kind of tech. But then, with the evolution ofDavid Cronenberg’sDead Ringers, where Jeremy Irons is following himself from one room to another, and what Jordan Peele did withUs.”
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Looking ahead, we were curious if there is anyone that Young, an actor who is also experienced in comedy, would love to work with down the line. “The first face that pops into my mind is Will Ferrell. It just would be so fun to get to work with him,” Young said. “I love what Ryan Reynolds is doing. The newDeadpooltrailer looks freakin' awesome. I think that genre, that sort of action comedy, just seems like the most fun in the world.”
In the meantime, from Republic Pictures,The Image of Youis now playing in select theaters and available to purchase on digital platforms like Google Play, Apple TV, and on Prime Video through the link below:
