Getting behind-the-scenes with the Baker twins
You would imagine two highly successful directors living and working in Hollywood, would have a flare of arrogance to them. Having worked with stars such as Zoë Kravitz, Dennis Quaid, and Michael B. Jordan it couldn’t be further from the truth for twin brothers Jonathan and Josh Baker.
We recently sat down with the twin brothers in LA for an interview and were met with the most fun and approachable fellow twins. The brothers opened up about their careers and how being twins have affected their success together. Jonathan and Josh are the ultimate twinfluencers and we are so inspired by them and hope you will be too.
Who are you and what do you do?
We are Jonathan and Joshua Baker.
In the commercial world, we are known as TWIN, in the movie world we direct under The Baker Brothers.
How did you get started?
Coming out of high school, we almost went separate ways, but ended up at the same design college. Three years later, we both jumped into the world of motion graphics world in Sydney.
After a few years doing that, we felt more fulfilled telling stories and so we both jumped out of the design world and into commercial directing. Before we moved to the US, we lived in Sydney and worked as commercial directors. We’ve been directing, individually and collectively, since 2004.
In 2007, we moved to New York and lived there for close to ten years. It’s also where we got the idea to shoot the short film, Bagman, which later got turned into our first feature film, Kin. A couple of years ago we moved out here to LA, where we always knew we'd end up anyway. We’ve been here ever since.
Growing up, we were always a united front, even if an idea to others seemed a little questionable. Being confident adventurous kids, we’re pretty sure we made a couple of childhood friends uncomfortable, as we were always getting up to crazy things and we were pretty convincing in getting to go along with us. We guess it's hard to say no when it's two against one.
If we hadn’t become film directors, we probably would’ve become twin stuntmen or something.
What's your favorite twin moment?
After being huge fans of The Matrix, Josh cold-called the casting team behind the movie and asked if they needed twins for the sequel, which was shooting in Sydney.
They were shocked at the random question and asked us if we’d already read the script, as they were casting for the role of the blonde twins with braids. We got an audition immediately, which was surreal, but didn’t end up getting the gig. Probably a good thing, since neither of us were actors.
But coincidentally, a couple months later they needed 50 or so guys to double as Hugo Weaving clones for the third movie, so again we went in to audition along with 1000 or so other guys. Weirdly only Jonathan got the role, which was pretty bizarre since we both looked exactly the same, and they were looking for ‘clones’.
However, on the day of wardrobe fittings when they saw we were actually twins, they asked both of us to be in the movie. That was an exciting early glimpse into Hollywood movie making, which made us want to pursue it even more. Chalk it up to twin luck!
What is it like being twins in business?
For us, it takes a bit of the pressure off. We spend a lot of our time in board rooms with important people in suits. Half the time you’re speaking, half the time you’re thinking of the next answer. It makes everything way more relaxed and stress-free.
We’ve got each other’s backs, we’re in this together. Especially making movies, there are so many fires that one needs to put out in the course of a day and it’s great to have a partner in problem-solving.
Because we’re two minds operating as one, we also do really well in brainstorming sessions. Ideas come quickly and we can build off each other in a natural way. It’s the dialogue one person usually has in their own head, only with us it’s verbalized with another unique perspective. Everyone should get themselves a twin.
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Do you guys argue and how do you handle it?
It happens. It used to be once a year we would have a pretty big blow up and it would take a little bit of time to come back from. But it hasn’t happened for a while, knock on wood.
We are really good at working things out and trying to be respectful of the other’s feelings. Issues mostly come down to miscommunication. Or when one of us really likes something the other one doesn’t, but that rarely happens.
Since we are so often on the same page for everything else, this one particular thing can become a sticking point. It’s so easy most of the time, why are we not agreeing on this particular issue? So you wanna work those things out as quickly as possible, especially since we need to operate as a cohesive team as co-directors. There’s nothing worse than being on two different pages in our line of work. You may as well do it by yourself.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about twins?
The twinsult is something we’ve come across since primary school.
Essentially it’s people who are lazy and who don’t take the time to learn how to tell us apart. They call us ‘the twinnies”.
We’ve had people in our lives that we’ve known for four years who say “you’re identical, just can’t tell you apart”, but it’s really on them that they haven’t taken the time to get to know us as individuals.
Rapid-fire questions:
Who is the bossiest?
Jon.
Who is the messiest?
Josh.
Who is most active on social media?
Probably Josh.
Who is the more shy twin?
Really depends on the situation.
Who is the more adventurous twin?
We go on adventures together!
Lastly, is there an evil twin?
It's him.
Thanks again, Jonathan & Josh. We are so inspired by your success and eagerly awaiting your next projects!
To stay up to date on what the Baker twins are up to, make sure to follow their Instagram.
Twinning Store was established by twin sisters K&E in July 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Life is too short to not celebrate being a twin. So why not flaunt it? When we couldn't find a way to do so we took matters in own hands and created Twinning Store. We now sell and ship clothing, accessories and gifts to twins and twin parents in over 35 countries around the world. Our goal is to be the number one shop for twins worldwide. Happy shopping!
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