Interview: Karen Gillan on Playing a Clone of Herself in

Written and directed by Riley Stearns, the sci-fi film Dual is out in theaters today. The film stars Karen Gillan, Aaron Paul, and Beulah Koale.

RELATED: Dual Interview: Aaron Paul Talks Dark Sci-Fi Film, Working With Karen Gillan

“Upon receiving a terminal diagnosis, Sarah opts for a cloning procedure to ease her loss on her friends and family,” says the synopsis. “When she makes a sudden and miraculous recovery, her attempts to have her clone decommissioned fail and lead to a court-mandated duel to the death. Now she has one year to train her body and mind for the fight of her life.”

ComingSoon Editor-in-Chief Tyler Treese spoke with Dual star Karen Gillan about playing two versions of herself, her love of Nebula, and much more.

Tyler Treese: I love the film. I was so impressed by the dark sense of humor. There were so many small lines and small details that made me laugh like your character’s porn of choice being the very specific kink of a pool orgy in a confirmed haunted house.

Karen Gillan: That was one of the funniest things ever. The haunted aspect.

Can you speak to how the film just like really relishes in the absurdity of this dystopian world, one that’s still so close to our own?

Yeah, that was probably one of the things I was just most excited about was kind of the tone of this film and the tone of Riley Stearns’ films. All of them, there is like an absurdist quality to it that is very dry, darkly comedic, very like, morbid, but in such a hilarious way. And I was like, “Oh, I want to be in that. I want to be part of that. I want to see if I can deliver those so uniquely written lines in somewhat of a natural way, but in keeping with the deadpan delivery.” There was a lot of challenges involved to kind of just get on the same page as Riley’s vision.

I love the whole aspect of Sarah’s clone being just slightly better from like, a surface-level view. No cellulite, different colored eyes, she takes your boyfriend in the film and just replaces Sarah in her own life. Can you speak to just how she deals with these insecurities? Because it kind of pushes her to like, finally live her life. She was kind of stuck in a rut.

Yeah. When we meet Sarah, she’s definitely not living her life. She’s just existing, coasting through day-to-day, not really valuing her time in this world. And then she’s presented with this, just, more improved version of herself. And then that version of her also starts to take over her life, and then that forces Sarah to kind of confront her own life and decide whether it’s something she wants to fight for, and then it turns out it is! And then she goes on this whole mission to kind of become stronger, more capable, and through that grows in confidence, which is really interesting to play with.

I thought Aaron Paul was so great in the film and I love the whole mutually beneficial scene as it goes in such a twist of direction where you wind up teaching him hip-hop dance lessons. How was that experience? You probably never thought you’d be teaching Aaron Paul how to do hip-hop dance.

Not something I thought was on the cards for me, but I’m glad it was. I just remember trying to learn that routine with Aaron and the instructor was laughing at us because we were both so bad at it.

So you don’t have a dancing background?

No, no, here’s the funny thing actually, I do have a dancing background, but I was never good at it. So I like, took classes, so you would think I would be better than I am, but you know when you’re just not natural to something? That’s me with dancing.

Well, you pulled it off. It looked good when you were teaching, so movie magic.

What was most difficult about playing two roles and having these scenes where you’re kind of playing off another take of yours?

It was definitely a challenge. It was interesting, because I would have to play one version of the character and then kind of imagine what I’m going to do when I come around for the other and then kind of react off of what I’m imagining I will do in the future, if that makes any sense whatsoever. It was like, a lot of multitasking, but I did have an amazing actress, Katarina, who played the other character for me, whichever one I wasn’t playing at the time. And so we were kind of in it together. It was definitely a team effort.

I thought the ending was really impactful and there’s a really interesting discussion to be had, just about the theme of happiness and what kind of happens when you get the status or the possessions that you think, “Oh, this will make me happy,” but then you get it and you’re not happy. Can you just speak to what you want people to take away from that, that ending?

That is just the lesson of life though, isn’t it? Like external things and material possessions just aren’t going to make you happy. It’s such a temporary fix, so you’ll get a rush of endorphins and then that’s going to go away and you’re going to be like, “Oh, that didn’t fix it.” I think you have to look much deeper within yourself to get there. I don’t know why this is turning into a therapy session [laughs]. But yeah, I think it’s a really valuable lesson that the film kind of poses

On your YouTube channel, you posted this really impressive workout for the film. How did the physical preparation really compare to your other roles? We’ve seen you in superhero films and these other movies that require you in top condition.

Well, this one I had to start off kind of not in shape to play Sarah, and then I needed…and it wasn’t a very long shoot. It was like 20-something days. So then I started off filming not really in shape, and then I tried to get in shape really quickly, so that by the end of the movie, Sarah looks like she’s been working out and is ready for the duel. So that’s what I had to do so. I was going pretty hard, but for a shorter period of time. For the other movies, I would say I definitely work out for a much longer period prior to starting the film. So this one was much less intense in a way.

I wanted to ask you about your performance in Marvel’s What If…? Because I thought it was so interesting to see you play this different version of Nebula and having T’Challa as a love interest. What was that like?

Oh, that was really fun to play around with. When I first saw the sketches for my character, I was like, “What? She’s got blonde hair.” She was kind of this femme fatale version of Nebula, which was just so much fun to play with. It was really cool to be involved in that project. I thought it was a great episode.

You mentioned earlier about Riley Stearns always having this kind of absurd humor in his films. What was your biggest takeaway from just working with him as a director? He has such a unique style.

I would just say that like, it’s so amazing when the director knows exactly what they want in the way that Riley does. Like, he has such a clear vision, and then that’s something that everybody can get behind and really support and bring to life. So I just loved working with him so much, and I feel like he really helped me as an actress, expand, and helped me be much more dry funny in a deadpan way than I’ve ever been before, which I’m grateful for, cause now I can use that in other things, if I want it.

I was also really curious what role you get recognized the most for because Nebula, you have so much makeup on and you had that amazing Doctor Who run. So, on the street, what do you get recognized the most for?

I think it’s…I think it might be Nebula, which is so ironic because it’s the one where you can’t really see my face, but it’s the one that I hear more often than not. So I was surprised by that. I thought it would maybe be Jumanji because my face is much more visible, but maybe Nebula for some reason.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is so unique because actors don’t usually get the chance to play the same character throughout so many different films. Over the years, how has your connection kind of changed with Nebula?

I love my character so much. I’m obsessed with her. Honestly, I’m just fascinated. I think it’s just been so lucky. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving because she starts off as this villain, and I was given the opportunity to really kind of show her perspective and her point of view on things. I think’s been like six movies, and I just think she’s completely fascinating. Her whole family dynamic, her upbringing, toxic narcissistic family system. It’s all the stuff I love to explore.

For playing Sarah’s clone, what kind of inspiration did you have for just the inflection, because there’s a lot of moments where you can kind of tell she’s still learning what it is to really be human. So can you speak to just that aspect of playing that character?

I had a lot of fun playing the clone because I had a lot of fun playing a person who’s trying to play a person [laughs] if that makes sense. There are certain moments where I think she’s trying to sound casual or normal, or like Sarah. And so that was kind of fun to play around with, as you said, like the inflections and things like trying to appear…yeah, it’s just really, really interesting to play with that.

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