Page 29 - AT

A29
PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 14 January 2020
'Holy Grail' digital effects rewinding the clock for actors

By MATT KEMP and Pesci would appear
Associated Press in "The Irishman." They cre-
LONDON (AP) — With Mar- ated a program — simi-
tin Scorsese's "The Irishman" lar to that used to create
expected to battle "Once online "deepfake" videos
Upon a Time in… Holly- where one actor's face is
wood" and "1917" for the swapped for another's —
best picture Oscar in Feb- which would check their
ruary, all eyes are on the work on the movie was
special effects team that heading in the right direc-
made the sprawling crime tion, with the system "spew-
epic possible. ing out" hundreds of imag-
"The Irishman" unfolds over es for cross-referencing.
decades, with the 76-year- Creating Junior required
old Robert De Niro and his Smith to spend time in a
co-stars playing their char- photogrammetry booth
acters from their 30s into re- where multiple cameras
tirement age, a feat that's captured his likeness as
made the film one of 2019's numerous lights fired in dif-
most acclaimed movies. ferent sequences, giving a
It's all possible through base scan of the actor and
new digital de-aging tech- analyzing the structure of
niques that in the past year his face from a skin pore
in cinemas have shaved level.
decades from Samuel This combination of photos shows actor Robert De Niro, left, during the filming of “The Irishman” Ironically, considering
L. Jackson's face and and the younger version of De Niro created by Pablo Helman, visual effects supervisor at Industrial Scorsese's vocal criticism of
turned back the clock to Light and Magic. Marvel movies as "not cin-
the 1990s for Will Smith. Associated Press ema," a similar system was
When Monday's Academy you're going to capture the used to de-age Jackson in
Award nominations are an- performance, how are you "Captain Marvel." A young
nounced, "Captain Marvel" going to do that?" Nick Fury was created by
and "Gemini Man" could Enter the "three-headed comparing footage from
see their names called monster," a unique camera old Jackson movies with
along with "The Irishman" in rig that has a director cam- the work the actor did on
the visual effects category. era in the center and two set — again, using tracking
Each film has arrived at its "witness" cameras on either markers.
reverse aging trick through side shooting infrared foot- "I looked at that face as,
a different technique, age. That allowed Helman you know, maybe 'The Ne-
leading some to call 2019 to eliminate shadows cre- gotiator' face," says Jack-
a monumental year for de- ated by on-set lighting. The son, referring to his 1998
aging in film. shadows could potentially movie of the same name,
To many, "The Irishman" interfere with the geomet- "Fortunately for them and
stands out from the field, ric facial shapes construct- for me, I had enough stuff
thanks to its complete ed by de-aging software. from that period in my
avoidance of "tracking "You're not interrupting the This combination of photos shows actor Joe Pesci, left, during life that they could use a
markers" — dots painted director's thread of think- the filming of “The Irishman” and the younger version of Pesci bunch of different facial
onto actors faces which ing," explains Helman. created by Pablo Helman, visual effects supervisor at Industrial expressions and films to
Light and Magic.
allow computers to math- "You're not changing the Associated Press put that face together that
ematically replicate facial light on set, but the com- made sense to people who
movements and manipu- puter can see in a different get all the different things facial motion at Weta. knew me from that time."
late them as the director spectrum." together and get it to pull Before filming commenced Darren Hendler, director of
sees fit. While the team at Indus- off right, that's been the on both "Gemini Man" and the Digital Human Group
The youthful transitions of trial Light and Magic was challenge." "The Irishman," the teams at Digital Domain and the
"The Irishman" are the work working on "The Irishman," To create the character of at ILM and Weta drew up man responsible for turning
of Pablo Helman, visual ef- another group of techni- Junior — a younger clone test footage to show the Josh Brolin into "Avengers"
fects supervisor at Industrial cal wizards were experi- of Smith's assassin Henry films' directors that what supervillain Thanos, was im-
Light and Magic, who's an menting with de-aging at Brogan — the superstar they were suggesting was pressed by Jackson's ap-
Oscar nominee for his work Weta Digital (part of direc- wore the traditional gray possible. For "The Irishman," pearance in the movie.
on "Star Wars: Episode II – tor Peter Jackson's Weta tracksuit, complimented by De Niro also returned to "That's more of a 2D-image
Attack of the Clones" and Workshop in New Zealand), a head rig with two cam- the 1990s, performing the based approach where
"War of the Worlds." creating an entirely digi- eras capturing his facial Pink Cadillac scene from they're taking the actor's
Helman says the decision tal, 23-year-old version of expressions via tracking "Goodfellas" before being performance and then
to forgo tracking markers Smith for the action movie markers. "We decided (on) de-aged in post-produc- they're painting and track-
came directly from Scors- "Gemini Man." "Since I start- a ground up approach tion — convincing an initial- ing certain frames. They're
ese and De Niro. ed visual FX 25 years ago it's to build everything from ly skeptical Scorsese that still using some of the actor's
"He's not going to wear a been the Holy Grail," says scratch — from the skull all he could bring the long- performance directly, but
helmet with little cameras Bill Westenhofer, one of the the way to the skin pores, all gestating project to life. they're modifying it. It was
in there," says Helman. "He's film's VFX supervisors. the way to the animation Helman and his team then very believable. It may not
going to want to be in the "You have that many years and the final kind of oil in spent two years looking have been exactly what
moment with Joe Pesci of expertise of looking at a the eyes was really the best through old movies and the young Samuel Jackson
and Al Pacino on set, with human face and knowing approach we could take," cataloging the targeted looked like, but it definitely
no markers on him. So, if what's wrong. So, to try and says Stu Adcock, head of ages that De Niro, Pacino looked de-aged."q