Harrison Ford rejuvenated 40 years by AI to Indiana Jones 5it is a form of culmination of several attempts in this area.
Many actors have indeed been treated to an artificial facelift to serve the storytelling of other films and series, many of which, unsurprisingly, have been produced by Disney. The American giant has already demonstrated its deep interest in an AI capable of aging and rejuvenating actors.
Ageless technology?
The first time that an actor was rejuvenated for the needs of a film dates back to 2006 with X-Men: The Last Stand. Technology has since come a long way and has received the help of artificial intelligence in particular for more convincing (but still imperfect) results.
The last most credible example in this matter is of course Indiana Jones 5, where Harrison Ford is going to be 40 years younger thanks to AI. The actor (who received an honorary Palme d’or during this year’s Cannes Film Festival) spoke quite highly of this technology: ” They have this AI that can pick up all the shots that were shot for Lucasfilm. They can reuse them depending on the angle of the light or my expression. Afterwards, I have to wear little dots on my face to record dialogues, and they rejuvenate me. It’s fantastic. »
Disney indeed has a certain head start in this field and has tried to rejuvenate Harrison Ford’s comrades in the saga. Star Wars (even to their resurrection). Mark Hamill, in his guise as a young Luke Skywalker, was notably the subject of a deepfake in the hit series The Mandalorian. The late Carrie Fisher also made a rejuvenated appearance in deepfake form in RogueOne. In both cases, however, the result left something to be desired.
Rejuvenation treatment renewed several times
Another example of actor rejuvenation in the forges of Disney: Robert Downey Jr. as a young Tony Stark during the film Captain America: Civil War. However, the American ogre is not the first when it comes to this process, with other successful productions in this area.
We can cite in particular The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with Brad Pitt, or Westworld with Anthony Hopkins. Another film that puts the fact of rejuvenating actors at the center of its plot is of course Gemini Manin which Will Smith must confront a significantly younger version of himself, in a rather convincing way.
Even though new technologies such as AI can perform real miracles on small and large screens, a certain question of the ethical and moral order nevertheless arises. One day, production companies may decide to replace flesh-and-blood actors with their digital reproductions. In addition to actors, screenwriters could also be threatened by AI, as evidenced by the major strike currently shaking the small world of Hollywood.
Source : West France
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