For the first time since 1994’s six-Oscar-winning Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks (66) and Robin Wright (56), the film’s couple, will be back together in front of the camera. Directed by “Forrest Gump” creator Robert Zemeckis (70), Hanks and Wright play the leading roles in “Here”. As has now become known, the two main actors as well as Marvel star Paul Bettany (51) and “Yellowstone” star Kelly Reilly (45) will be digitally rejuvenated for “Here” with the help of artificial intelligence. This is reported, among other things, by the industry magazine “The Hollywood Reporter”.
An AI tool from the tech company Metaphysic should be used. It is called Metaphysic Live and is said to be able to transform performers into younger versions of themselves on set and in real time – a first in the previously very time-consuming and expensive technology of digital rejuvenation. Director Zemeckis, who also directed ‘Forrest Gump’ and the legendary ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy, said: “[‘Here’] just wouldn’t work if the actors couldn’t seamlessly morph into younger versions of themselves “. The Metaphysic Live tool would enable just that “in ways previously impossible”.
The film “Here”, which is already in production, is an adaptation of the graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire (66). In the original, the action takes place within just one room between the years 1902 and 2029. The tool used in the shooting of “Here” should now be able to carry out the digital rejuvenation without subsequent post-processing. “Performers can even use the technology as a ‘youth mirror’ and try out their acting for their younger versions in real time,” explains Here’s special effects supervisor Kevin Baillie, 45.
“Here” director Zemeckis has already successfully used a number of technical innovations in his long Hollywood career. For example, the filmmaker had leading actor Hanks shake the hand of the late US President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) in the classic “Forrest Gump”, combined live action and animation scenes in “Roger Rabbit” (1988) and used performance capture technology in The Polar Express (2004) and The Legend of Beowulf (2007).
However, the technology of digital rejuvenation has been increasingly used in film productions in recent years. For example, cinema viewers will see a rejuvenated Harrison Ford (80) in parts of “Indiana Jones and the Call of Fate” this year. Samuel L. Jackson (74) was digitally rejuvenated for the Marvel blockbuster ‘Captain Marvel’ (2019), and stars Robert De Niro (79), Al Pacino (82) and Joe Pesci (79) for Martin Scorsese (80) Mafia epic “The Irishman” (2019).
