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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 30 May 2017

How Hollywood is giving its biggest stars digital facelifts

LINDSEY BAHR “We’re constantly fighting
AP Film Writer making it look lifelike. One
LOS ANGELES (AP) — John- of the advantages of the
ny Depp is 53 years old process that we use is by
but he doesn’t look a day keeping the original actor,
over 26 in the new “Pirates we have that starting point
of the Caribbean” movie of life, of reality,” Claus
— at least for a few mo- said.
ments. There was no plastic It makes the whole process
surgeon involved, heavy harder, but, “It’s worth it.”
makeup or archival foot- Reactions, lately have
age used to take the ac- been mixed, ranging from
tor back to his boyish “Cry nostalgic delight and
Baby” face, however. It’s “how’d they do that” cu-
all post-production visual riosity to dismay and wari-
effects, and after a de- ness about its future.
cade of refining the pro- New York Magazine critic
cess since Brad Pitt ran the David Edelstein wrote that
gamut of time in “The Curi- the “recreations” are “far
ous Case of Benjamin But- more disturbing in their re-
ton,” it’s becoming com- al-world implications than
monplace in major Holly- the fictional destruction of
wood movies. planets and galaxies.”
Depp is just the latest For New York Times crit-
mega-star to get the dras- ic Manohla Dargis, Rus-
tic de-aging treatment on sell’s younger visage was
screen, joining the ranks “weird” and “disrupting.”
of Robert Downey Jr. (in “It makes you contemplate
“Captain America: Civil whether this Benjamin
War”), Michael Douglas (in Button-style age-reversing
“Ant-Man”), Kurt Russell (in is going to become an in-
“Guardians of the Galaxy creasingly standard (and
Vol. 2”) and scores of oth- creepy) industry practice,”
ers getting digital facelifts she wrote.
to play younger versions of “Pirates 5” co-director Es-
themselves. In the old days, pen Sandberg isn’t as dark
a lucky unknown looka- about it.
like (or look enough alike) “For me it’s just another sto-
could have scored the part This combination of photos released by Disney, shows the character Jack Sparrow at two stages rytelling tool and I think it’s
of young Jack Sparrow or of his life in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.” really cool,” he said.
Tony Stark. Now, if the film Associated Press And for the VFX artists, it’s
has the budget, the stars only the beginning.
get to have it both ways — then manipulating it. This on. The final shots, of which near-lifelike, but not quite “Right now what we’re us-
and audiences get a nos- isn’t always necessary — there are 20-25, took about enough — there are still ing it for is a very nuts and
talgic flashback. “Rogue One” recreated 15 artists a year of work. trouble spots. bolts solution to a problem.
Lola Visual Effects is re- the late Peter Cushing’s That Depp has been fa- “One of the things that we There’s a different and
sponsible for Depp’s trans- Grand Moff Tarkin without mous since that age was struggle with is the bottom more creative future for it,”
formation, and most of the him, and Carrie Fisher’s both a blessing and a curse of the chin. As you get old- Brozenich said. “There can
Marvel tricks, which have Princess Leia using doubles for the production. They er there tends to be a lot be even crazier, more cre-
included making Chris Ev- — but it was critical for “Pi- had numerous reference of sag and extra skin that ative uses for it ... maybe a
ans scrawny for the origi- rates.” points to work with, but, so develop underneath the hybrid of several actors.”
nal “Captain America” “No one else can be would the audience. jaw,” Claus said. “It is un- He thinks the next step is a
and Hayley Atwell some 70 Jack Sparrow,” said Gary “Working on the human fortunately not just a simple digital character that plays
years older for the sequel. Brozenich, the Oscar-nom- face is one of the, if not the task of removing the wrin- a larger part, and not just
Lola was the pioneer be- inated VFX artist who over- most challenging thing to kles because the skin isn’t a flashback. After all, the
hind “Benjamin Button,” saw visual effects for the do,” said Trent Claus, the going to be responding the young Han Solo movie isn’t
too, and sells their services film. “Trying to do a digital visual effects supervisor for same as it did when you using a de-aged Harrison
to all the major studios. It’s approximation ... audienc- Lola VFX. “People can tell were younger. You have to Ford or Billy Dee Williams —
one of a handful of vendors es would see right through when there is something change not only the way they’ve cast Alden Ehren-
that have gotten in the so- it.” amiss. Even if they can’t it looks on the outside but reich and Donald Glover.
called “beauty work” busi- Brozenich and the film- put their finger on what is how it moves and reacts “We have digital charac-
ness. It’s often meant to go makers decided to bring wrong, they can tell that to movement and expres- ters that are a primary part
unnoticed (like removing a Depp back to how he something is wrong.” sions.” of (films), like Rocket and
blemish), and is generally looked around the time of And while the artists have To counteract this, pro- Groot from ‘Guardians of
buried under mountains “21 Jump Street” and “Cry gotten better over the ductions will often shoot a the Galaxy’ ... But they’re
of confidentiality agree- Baby” and went through a years and have mostly younger double to mimic never a full-on human per-
ments. number of iterations, over managed to avoid drifting an actor’s performance, former that plays a key role
In the case of Depp, and the course of six months, into the dreaded uncanny which they will use as a ref- throughout the duration of
most of Lola’s de-aging to arrive at the perfect valley — the term used to erence point for how the a feature film,” he said. “I
work, the process starts age (roughly 26) — which describe the eerie feel- younger skin should be- think that that’s really the
with capturing a perfor- Depp, Disney and Jerry ing you get when looking have and look in certain Holy Grail.”q
mance from the actor and Bruckheimer had to sign off at a digital person who is lights.