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Fortunately, Bobby Shafran and David Kellman have been through this kind of thing before.
It wasnt a bit.
We woke up together, we went to work together, we went to school together.
We did everything together.
It soon gets darker.
By the mid-90s, the first cracks in brothers relationship had emerged.
Bobby had left the restaurant, and Eddy had been diagnosed as bipolar.
(The boys parents had been told they were taking part in a normal child-development study.)
In an additional wrinkle, the research team included European refugees from the Holocaust.
As Bobby says in the film, its some Nazi shit!
When the filmmakers approached them, Bobby and David had not done any official interviews together since Eddys death.
In middle age, the brothers werent estranged, exactly, but they werent close.
We were not talking, but it wasnt as though wewouldnttalk to one another, Bobby said over coffee.
David and I tried to make attempts at building a relationship in fits and starts, but
Feeble!
David interjected, a foot away.
Hes beingfeebleand hes talking about getting together before we becomefeeble, David explained.
Its an underlying theme, if you will.
Even after years apart, there is still an element of youthful rivalry there.
… a wasteful feeling on a very human level.
Ashonda a shame or a waste.
Your last 14 sentences in one word.
At this, Bobbys glass of water made its way onto Davids face.
In their experience, people in the media didnt always do what they said they were going to do.
They still come up with this amazingly sensationalistic shit!
Filming was intense ten-hours days spent reliving the most emotionally fraught moments of their lives.
We were bringing up things that hadnt been discussed in that much detail in many, many years.
And it was not easy to do, David said.
One question led to another, then that question led to another.
When we were done, we weredone.
There was nothing left, said Bobby.
We walked out of there drained, toast.
They didnt even know Tim was back in town!
In each case, the same thing happened, Bobby recalled.
David got up, I got up, we both hugged him and said, Thank you.
There was no betrayal of our trust in any way.
We werent expecting it.
Thats not to say there were zero surprises.
She comes across as a super-villain, David said.
We didnt even know she existed!
Three Identical Strangersmade it into Sundance, the start of a whirlwind 12 months for the brothers.
First, the film won the Special Jury Award for Storytelling at the festival.
Then it was acquired by Neon, who released it in July touniformly positive reviews.
(Were still not getting anything for free!
But its been a great experience, spending all this time with each other.
They are even playing golf together.
It feels different than their first go-round in the early 80s.
We were also 19, and Eddy was part of it.
A lot of dynamics have changed, said David.
Now, the base is a little more stable.
Theyve both been married, and each has kids of his own.
The old dreams of fame have not entirely gone away.
(I like Melissa McCarthy for David, says Bobby.)
Im in the insurance business, and a lot of my income is residual income, he explained.
Sooner or later, youve got to keep feeding that dragon.
You run out of gas.
(Bobby hasnt worked full-time after hurting himself in a 2011 motorcycle accident.)
But well see whats happening, David said.
We could get a phone call.
Maybe some opportunities, said Bobby.
What kind of opportunities?
Either dramatic or commercial opportunities, or some kind of spokesperson kind of thing, said David.
Thats what they do with old actors, right?
A lot of people who have mentioned they find us engaging public storytellers, Bobby added.
We certainly wont spurn them.
Weve heard a lot of chatter, but chatter is chatter until it becomes real.
How did they decide to trust the filmmakers?
This validation turns out to take many forms.
Hed been to Triplets back in the day, and it was fantastic.
