Disturbing Digital De-aging
It can seem that these days, society is anti-aging. There is almost a stigma around getting older, but even more so around looking it – goodness forbid that you actually look your age. This is largely driven by the Hollywood celebrity agenda where appearances are scrutinised and publicised from every angle. This in turn has inspired and driven an entire industry dedicated to shaving off the years both through cosmetics and cosmetic procedures. Now however, with the advancements in Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) as well as AI, there is a whole new realm of de-aging in television and films. Historically, when there has been a film that featured a protagonist in different stages of life and ages, these were portrayed by different actors that had realistic and convincing facial similarities and features. In recent years, this has started to change significantly.
At first, the results of de-aging an actor or actress in a production had mixed and sometimes even comical results, but the rationale was that even though it may not look perfect, it was still better and more feasible than trying to find younger doppelgangers. Digital de-aging is an art and needs to be done with consideration in order to truly convince the audience and get them to buy into the storyline. Although the technology has changed drastically, it has certainly become more refined over the years. One of the first movies to capitalise on digital de-aging was the 2006 production of X-Men: The Last Stand where actors Ian Mckellan and Patrick Stewart were subjected to what was known as ‘digital skin-grafting’ in order to remove signs of aging and wrinkles from the actors’ appearances when they appear in a flashback scene. Another notable movie that focuses on aging backwards is of course Brad Pitt’s Curious Case of Benjamin Button. This film made use of a system called Contour.
Some other films that relied on de-aging effects include a fair few of the Marvel movies including Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Captain Marvel and Avengers: End Game to name a few. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug also featured a younger looking Orlando Bloom as did the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean for Johnny Depp. The ethics of de-aging actors should feature prominently in productions too. The 2016 production of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story took digital manipulation to new realms by not only de-aging some of its actors but resurrecting the too, particularly actors Carrie Fisher and Peter Cushing. Tom Hanks is an actor that’s embraced the endless possibilities that such technology presents, which can especially be seen in his latest film Here where he plays multiple ages and stages alongside Robin Wright. As Hanks said in an interview for The Adam Buxton Podcast; “I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but performances can go on and on and on and on.” Only time will tell whether or not they should.