Jesse Eisenberg in "The Double" Dostoevsky-based dark comedy trailer (video)

 September 7, 2013 - 12:58 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Jesse Eisenberg takes a double role in "The Double (2013)". As shown in the first teaser trailer for the movie, the actor plays a man who meets his twin and he's not amused at it as the doppelganger begins taking over his life, AceShowbiz said.

Based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the dark comedy centers on an insignificant man working as a government clerk whose life is destroyed after what he believes to be an exact copy of himself begins working in his office and attempts to ruin his life. This situation nearly leads him to an emotional breakdown.

Dostoevsky’s novel was first published on January 30, 1846 in the Fatherland Notes. The Double is the most Gogolesque of Dostoyevsky's works; its subtitle "A Petersburg Poem" echoes that of Gogol's Dead Souls. Vladimir Nabokov called it a parody of "The Overcoat". The story is told in great detail with a style intensely saturated by phonetic and rhythmical expressiveness. D.S. Mirsky characterized the story as a "painful, almost intolerable reading."

Mia Wasikowska plays Eisenberg's on-screen love interest. Wallace Shawn, Noah Taylor and Yasmin Paige join the cast in supporting roles.

Richard Ayoade directs the film in addition to writing the script along with Avi Korine. No U.S. release date is set for the film, but it is going to make its premiere this weekend at the Toronto Film Festival.