Take an Up-Close Look at the Daniel Radcliffe Doll from Swiss Army Man

You would think it would be a little unnerving to see a life-sized look-alike dummy of yourself, but for Daniel Radcliffe—who had several dolls made in his likeness for the film Swiss Army Man—it was no big deal. “We had them on Harry Potter, so I’ve seen myself look weird and sort of disembodied before,” Radcliffe said at a press event for the film earlier this week. “But it’s not always the most dignified process having one made. In this film, there was a particular ass molding, and, you know, there is no graceful, elegant, dignified way of doing that. You just sort of have to slap it on.”

In the film, out July 1, Radcliffe plays Manny, a corpse who alternately serves as a companion, canteen, compass, axe, grappling hook, firestarter, and flatulent jet ski for the stranded Hank (Paul Dano). The dolls were used in scenes that would have been too risky for Radcliffe to film, and they went through a lot on set.

“They had to be very, very durable,” the actor said. One of the dolls stood in for Radcliffe during a scene where Manny is attacked by raccoons. “We had two raccoons,” Radcliffe said. “One of them was crap, and would not do anything. The other raccoon instinctively and immediately went for the eyes. That’s when I was very grateful we had the dummies.”

Somehow, the dolls made it through the shoot intact, and mental_floss got an up-close look at one of them, which really, truly, unnervingly looks like Radcliffe.

Erin McCarthy

Erin McCarthy

Erin McCarthy

Want to see Manny for yourself? The doll is going on tour leading up to the nationwide release of Swiss Army Man on July 1. Manny will be riding around New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles, among other cities. He even hit up the polls to vote in the California primary:

This isn’t the only marketing campaign A24, the studio that's releasing the film, has launched to support Swiss Army Man. By texting "SOS" to 25827, you can get texts from Manny. Some simply ask how you are, others tell you how he’s feeling—and some will tell you how to use a digital version of the corpse on the film’s official website. You can toss Manny around, manipulate his body into weird positions, and, most importantly, make him fart (among some other NSFW things). You can interact with Manny here.