The release of the highly anticipated trailer for ‘Indiana Jones 5’ has given much to talk about, but perhaps the most talked about is that moment in which we see Harrison Ford digitally rejuvenated to look much younger than he currently is. The actor himself has stressed that it is the first time that someone with this type of retouching is believed, but the truth is that there are already many actors who have gone through it.
Next we are going to review the cases of 13 films that also rejuvenated some of their actors with the magic of CGI. There are cases for all tastes, from some quite convincing to others that border on the disastrous, but of course, not all of us agree on which are good and which are bad.
Before leaving you with them, I would like to clarify that I have preferred to leave out all cases of mere digital recreations . Come on, those that were not shot by the actors in question, like what happened with Carrie Fisher in ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’. Without further ado, let’s go with them:
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’ (‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, 2006)
Not bad for being the first movie that did it. It is true that his own is noticeable, especially when you see him in motion, but you believe it more than some later cases.
Brad Pitt in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ (‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, 2008)
Very commendable for the time it was made. Sure, it has since been surpassed by several movies, but it still holds up 14 years after its release.
Jeff Bridges in ‘Tron: Legacy’ (2010)
Cante was already giving off something at the time of its premiere and currently it is even somewhat grotesque in some scenes.
Michael Douglas in ‘Ant-Man’ (2015)
Convincing, a great first step for what would come later in Marvel.
Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (‘Captain America: Civil War’, 2016)
A clear step backwards for Marvel with respect to ‘Ant-Man’, since the loss of clear expressiveness. Of course, it is one of those cases that something improves in movement.
Kurt Russell in ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ (‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’, 2017)
Incredible. Until now it was surely the most convincing case, as it worked very well on both still and moving images.
Colin Firth in ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ (‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’, 2017)
Even the actor himself confessed that he did not look like himself when he was young. And they had little excuse for doing it so badly, which is a matter of just seconds…
Johnny Depp in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge’ (‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’, 2017)
Quite correct, you can come to believe it if you don’t look too closely, but it’s not memorable either.
Will Smith in ‘Gemini’
Quite weak, especially in movement, where it becomes somewhat robotic, like a kind of soulless reproduction, especially in scenes with stronger lighting.
Samuel L. Jackson in ‘Captain Marvel’ (‘Captain Marvel’, 2019)
Quite successful, to the point that watching the movie you believe it almost completely. It’s not perfect, but it did make it clear that the technology was improving a lot, because here it also came to be used a lot in the film instead of being a more or less isolated thing like in other Marvel films.
Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci in ‘The Irishman‘ (‘The Irishman’, 2019)
Achieved but could be improved. There are some specific moments when he sings, but that’s mainly because you can rejuvenate the appearance of the actor, but not make him move as if he were 40 or 50 years younger…
Nicolas Cage in ‘The unbearable weight of a huge talent’ (‘The Unbearable Weight of Massiva Talent’, 2022)
It falls quite short. Yes, we totally believe that he is still Nicolas Cage, but no joke we see the actor at 25-26 years old, which is the age he was when he filmed ‘Wild at Heart’.
Sylvester Stallone a ‘Samaritan’
A strange case, since in still images you can believe it, but in movement it looks something strange, especially its eyes.
