Mahershala Ali Is Remarkable As a Man and His Clone in ‘Swan Song’ on Apple TV+

From Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black to Paul Rudd in Living With Yourself, nothing impresses me more than clone acting. When an actor can play opposite themselves and successfully makes the audience believe we are watching two different people? There’s nothing quite like it. And Mahershala Ali, who stars in the new sci-fi drama Swan Song on Apple TV+, delivers some of the best clone acting I’ve seen in years.

Written and directed by Benjamin Cleary, Swan Song takes place in the not-too-distant future, when smartphones have been replaced by computerized contact lenses, and cloning technology is all but flawless. Ali stars as Cameron Turner, a devoted husband and father who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Rather than spend his final days holding his family close, Cameron considers an agonizing option: replace himself with a healthy, indistinguishable clone. His family will never know, and will never experience the grief of losing him. But the real Cameron will die alone.

It’s cutting-edge technology, but it’s still very new. Dr. Scott (Glenn Close) is the mastermind behind the project; Cameron will be her fourth client to date. While Dr. Scott insists this will work, Cameron is understandably skeptical. The film’s most striking scene comes about an hour in, after Cameron has met finally met his clone, whom they call “Jack.” You can feel Cameron’s apprehensionon building the more time he spends with Jack, but Ali keeps it subtle. Cameron is a polite person, even to the guy who is going to replace him. But his restraint runs out when Jack video calls Cameron’s wife, Poppy (Naomie Harris) for the first time.

Ali makes it clear that it’s not just jealously that leads Cameron to hang up the call. It’s fear. In the emotional fight between Cameron and Jack that follows—which, again, is Ali acting with himself—you won’t know who to root for. On the one hand, you can hardly blame Cameron for not being able to sit by idly and watch himself be replaced. But you can’t help but feel Jack has a point when he accuses Cameron of being selfish, especially when he drops this bomb: Cameron resents Poppy for withdrawing in her grief after her brother died. You can tell by the look on Cameron’s face that Jack speaks the truth.

Incredibly—despite the fact they are supposed to be undetectable from each other—Ali keeps these two characters distinct in the smallest of ways. Jack is just a teensy bit more fresh-faced, more naive, and less jaded than Cameron. As they argue, Jack is hit by a dizzy spell; a symptom of his terminal illness. As Jack, who rushes to steady his likeness, Ali switches from hostility to concern at the drop of a dime. As Cameron, who pushes his clone away, he radiates shame and despair, unwilling to admit he needs help. The layers of Ali’s performance are endless, right up until the last scene he shares with himself at the end, when man and carbon copy reach a gentle understanding.

While Ali—who has won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor twice now—hasn’t exactly been a front-runner of Oscar 2022 conversations thus far, the awards nominations are still well over a month away. And that means anything can happen. Already, Ali has earned recognition for his Swan Song performance, earning a Golden Globe nomination for  Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama. One thing is for sure: If there were a category for Best Clone Acting, the Oscar would surely go to Ali.

Watch Swan Song on Apple TV+