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Benicio Del Toro Looks Eerily Identical To His 'Escape At Dannemora' Character

Escape at Dannemora spared no expense in bringing on an all-star cast of actors for the seven-part miniseries executive produced and directed by Ben Stiller. Most of the actors underwent radical transformations to play their characters, including significant weight gain and a whole bunch of prosthetic teeth. But Benicio Del Toro managed to channel his real life character almost exclusively via a menacing scowl. Photos of Richard Matt vs. Benicio Del Toro on Escape at Dannemora show that the pair share an uncanny resemblance — when they're making exactly the same face, that is.

Del Toro was at a significant disadvantage in comparison to his other co-stars when crafting his character, because Matt is the only figure in the unbelievable story not to survive the ordeal. Paul Dano, for example, was able to visit the real David Sweat in prison. Although Joyce "Tilly" Mitchell and her husband, Lyle, refused to participate in the making of the miniseries, Patricia Arquette and Eric Lange still had plenty of interview footage and photos of the pair to go off of when working on their characters. Richard Matt, a career criminal who spent years incarcerated for a variety of offenses throughout the course of his life, died in the aftermath of the 2015 prison break which Escape at Dannemora tells the story of.

C. Wilson Webb/SHOWTIME
Handout/Getty Images News/Getty Images
C. Wilson Webb/SHOWTIME

Three weeks after Matt and Sweat broke out of the 170-year-old Clinton Correctional Facility, they were finally apprehended by police. The nearly month-long manhunt was a huge financial burden on the state of New York, which one judge estimated cost $23 million in overtime costs alone, according to CNN. Residents of the neighboring counties were also essentially on lockdown or otherwise left fearing for their lives with two convicted murderers on the loose.

Matt and Sweat survived by breaking into and looting empty summer cabins in the Adirondack Mountains near the prison complex. Eventually, with Sweat wanting to make a run for the Canadian border and Matt wanting to stay put and hunker down in a cabin for awhile, the two parted ways.

C. Wilson Webb/SHOWTIME
Handout/Getty Images News/Getty Images
C. Wilson Webb/SHOWTIME

Sweat was apprehended just miles away from the Canadian border, and although he was shot by police while trying to run away, he survived his wounds and was put back in prison. Matt was also apprehended outside the cabin he'd been hiding out in, and he began firing shots at police when he realized he'd been cornered. Ultimately, Matt suffered fatal wounds in the shootout. It was later discovered that his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit when he died.

Needless to say, Del Toro found a way to channel the ominous vibe that Matt was said to have had by those who'd previously encountered him, and he plays the escapee convincingly.

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