Will Smith, Robert De Niro and the Rise of the All-Digital Actor
Will Smith, Robert De Niro and the Rise of the
All-Digital Actor
by Carolyn Giardina AUGUST 10, 2019 6:45am PT
This fall's 'Gemini Man' and 'The
Irishman' are just the tip of the iceberg for how studios will look to
capitalize on de-aging VFX techniques: "It's safer and cheaper than
plastic surgery."
On July 23, Will Smith gave reporters
an early preview of his upcoming thriller Gemini Man, in which the
star fights with a younger clone of himself. The 50-year-old actor noted that,
with advances in visual effects, he could sit back and let a digital double do
all the work. "There's a completely digital 20-year-old version of myself
that can make movies now," he quipped. While the comment got a laugh, it
wasn't too far off from Hollywood's new reality: Actors can now play a
character at any age — regardless of their own.
New VFX techniques could be used to
tell stories that studios might not have attempted just a few years ago. It's
not too difficult to imagine in the near future, say, a digital likeness of
an Avengers star appearing in Marvel Studios' ever-expanding
big-screen universe in perpetuity, even if the actor has long moved on from the
role. And who profits from these digital copies of actors will likely spark
union debates as usage grows more common.
This fall, two prestige tentpoles will
test the waters for this new paradigm. In Paramount's Ang Lee-helmed Gemini
Man (Oct. 11), "Junior" Smith involved creating a fully
digital character that looks and acts like Smith did around 1996 when he
starred in Independence Day. The character was created by VFX house
Weta Digital to use in some of the most complex scenes where "Junior"
has to act alongside Smith.
Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese's period
drama The Irishman stars Robert De Niro, 75, as Frank Sheeran,
a labor union leader and alleged hit man for the Bufalino crime family, and Al
Pacino, 79, as union activist Jimmy Hoffa. Both actors (and others) will appear
at different ages spanning decades, which is accomplished with VFX and makeup.
But it's the digital de-aging work,
which is being handled by Lucasfilm's Industrial Light & Magic, that has
been the focus of much curiosity, though specifics of the techniques used
haven't been revealed. It’s become common for an actor to have their face
and body scanned at the start of a project if VFX might be needed (for
instance, in action films for a digital stunt double).
A believable, fully digital human is
still considered among the most difficult tasks in visual effects.
"Digital humans are still very hard, but it's not unachievable. You only
see that level of success at the top-level companies," explains Chris
Nichols, a director at Chaos Group Labs and key member of the Digital Human
League, a research and development group. He adds that this approach can be
"extraordinarily expensive. It involves teams of people and months of
work, research and development and a lot of revisions. They can look excellent
if you involve the right talent."
The VFX team must first create the
"asset," effectively a movable model of the human. Darren Hendler,
head of VFX house Digital Domain's digital human group, estimates that this
could cost from $500,000 to $1 million to create. Then, he suggests, producers
could expect to pay anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 per shot, depending on
the individual requirements of the performance in the scene.
More often, filmmakers use what has
been broadly described as "digital cosmetics," which could be thought
of as a digital makeup applications — for instance, removing wrinkles for
smoother skin. This means that age is becoming less of an issue when casting an
actor. "It's safer and cheaper than plastic surgery," notes Nichols.
Marvel's Avengers: Endgame involved the creation of roughly
200 such de-aging shots, with work on actors such as Robert Downey Jr. and
Chris Evans, to enable its time-traveling story.
AI and machine learning, and the
related category known as generative adversarial networks (GANS), which
involves neural networks, could advance this area even further. "I
wouldn't be surprised if The Irishman and Gemini Man are
the last fully digital human versions that don't use some sort of GANS as part
of the process," Hendler says, adding that de-aging techniques and digital
humans could start to appear in more films, and not just those with Marvel-size
budgets. "I think we'll start to see some of this used on smaller-budget
shows."
Adds Guy Williams, Weta's VFX
supervisor on Gemini Man: "Once Gemini Man and The
Irishman come out, you'll [have several] successful films showing how
it can be done. When you give that possibility to directors, they will find new
ways to use it."
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