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21 Actors Who Were De-Aged Using Digital Technology To Look Younger On Screen
Every single one of us, including the richest and the most famous Hollywood celebrities, is powerless in the face of time. However, in the era of exponential technological growth, movies and TV shows are able to slightly tame it.
De-aging is a visual effects technique performed using digital editing and CGI, that allows professionals to make actors and actresses look years or even decades younger. The first movie to ever use this technique was 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand, rewinding the clock for Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Since then, many others have employed de-aging techniques in their own creations.
Without further ado, Bored Panda invites you to scroll down and take a look at some of the most iconic movie stars that were made to look younger using CGI and digital editing.
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#1
Kurt Russell In 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' (2017)
BananaAnna 4 years ago
Don't think this could actually be done, unless in another universe.
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Aunt Messy 4 years ago
How could you not know that? Kurt Russel has been in the movie business since he was a little kid. There are a lot of images for them to base their changes on.
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The traditional way of making actors be a different age on screen was getting creative with makeup, clothes and accessories, using prosthetics, or casting younger actors to play certain characters in flashback scenes. However, the results achieved using these techniques aren't always that amazing.
As we mentioned before, the first ones to employ the de-aging technique in film was the creators of X-Men: The Last Stand, that had scenes taking the narrative back in time.
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#2
Samuel L. Jackson In 'Captain Marvel' (2019)
Loki odinson 4 years ago
Hey nat how's it going I havent seen you in hero heaven
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Alvin Rendell 4 years ago
Yes, this one was really very good. Better than the Kurt Russell example.
“Like any of the first forays into new effects, these effects by today’s standards seem a bit outdated,” a lead compositor at London-based visual effects house Framestore Owen Braekke-Carroll told Backstage. “But for the time, they were at the top of their game, and also paved the way for the method and ideas we use regularly today. Seeing them on the screen like that—I immediately thought that if this was possible, it would be used widely to let the filmmakers add or extend the story beyond the time audiences were used to.”
#3
Robert Downey Jr. In 'Captain America: Civil War' (2016)
Vaida Kuodytė 4 years ago
He looks like a badly made wax doll of RDJ, if RDJ had been taking female hormones for a while
#4
Anthony Hopkins In 'Westworld' (2016-Present)
“De-ageing is quite a bit more complex now,” Braekke-Carroll shared with Backstage. “There are even a few different approaches depending on the desired outcome. For smaller and more subtle effects, a digital touch-up or ‘airbrush’ isn’t out of the question. But for the full-screen, full-performance-type effect, it’s usually more of a total digital rebuild of the face and head—often using a stand-in body double of similar proportion and build to the original actor.”
#5
Stan Lee In 'Avengers: Endgame' (2019)
#6
Michael Douglas In 'Ant-Man And The Wasp' (2018)
Jo Johannsen 4 years ago
First picture I have seen of him where he resembles his dad (r.i.p.).
Skai Metcalf 4 years ago
The line around his bottom lip (where the removed the beard) looks absolutely awful. It looks like they didn't even try
#7
Mark Hamill In 'The Mandalorian' (2019-Present)
zims 4 years ago
I like how they didn't make him look fresh off the farm. This is a Luke who's seen some things.
Alvin Rendell 4 years ago
Agreed. Though I wish they had allowed the character a few more lines.
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Lexi Mitchell 4 years ago
The younger cgi is good, but when he was actually talking it was... weird. His mouth wasn’t moving exactly right.
Ozacoter 4 years ago
Yeah. I found the one of Leia and Tarkin in Rogue One better.
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Vaida Kuodytė 4 years ago
Looks like a game cutscene, just like the rest of Star Wars de-aging cases. No.
Biana Vacker 4 years ago
I think it was deepfake/CGI (correct me if I'm wrong)
Load More Replies...Of course, people have all kinds of opinions about digital de-aging. "My problem with de-aging that the actors still move like an old person," someone pointed out under the YouTube video called De-Aging Will Change Movies Forever. "Young Sam Jackson also walks and moves like an old man. You can't de-age posture," another user added.
"This, combined with deepfakes and voice modulation. We'll only need ONE actor in the future to play EVERY role!" someone pointed out.
#8
Michelle Pfeiffer In 'Ant-Man And The Wasp' (2018)
Theoretical Empiricist 4 years ago
Yeah...that's what she currently looks like.
Load More Replies... Jo Johannsen 4 years ago
Kathleen Turner in "Peggy Sue Got Married" was pre-digital de-aging. She, like Michelle was gorgeous.
#9
Clark Gregg In 'Captain Marvel' (2019)
Vic 4 years ago
Downvoted?? That is a reference to the cool way his character (Phil Coulson) reacts, even in the most dire situation
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Patrick Stewart In 'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006)
A few users pointed out how de-aging technology may prevent newly-baked actors from getting their shot in the movie industry. "I think it just makes actors obsolete. Why hire newbies when you have thousands of hours of great actors already acting? Just use that and make a new movie! Cheaper! Terrifying......" someone commented.
#11
Will Smith In 'Gemini Man' (2019)
Vaida Kuodytė 4 years ago
I was like... Did they clone him for real? :D But I haven't watched Fresh Prince so it probably helped
Arctic Fox Lover 4 years ago
I remember seeing this a month or two ago and thinking that they did an awesome job with the CGI--they did!
Melissa Nunya 4 years ago
This one was hard to watch because we all know what he really looked like in his Fresh Prince days. Some parts were really creepy looking
Jessica Cifelli 4 years ago
All they really did was make him look like some guy from West Philadelphia, born and raised...😏
#12
Ian Mckellen In 'X-Men: The Last Stand' (2006)
#13
Carrie Fisher In 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' (2016)
Sarah 4 years ago
That perplexed me when I saw the movie. "It's...young Leia, and yet...that's not what Carrie Fisher looked like at 19. WTF?"
Melissa Nunya 4 years ago
They used a combo of her face and her daughters
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Full of Giggles 4 years ago
That’s actually not true. They mapped Carrie’s face onto actress Ingvild Deila’s face in Rogue One.
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Vansh Popli 4 years ago
even though it looks like its and old image this is a picture from rogue 1 (2016)
Charlotte A. 4 years ago
No she hadn't. She was impressed by the result. But they used a younger actress and then mapped Carrie's face on top.
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JessG 4 years ago
No, that is definitely not an old image of her. Look up her old images as Leia, this ain't it.
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Robert De Niro In 'Irishman' (2019)
Melissa Nunya 4 years ago
This one was ok except they didn't use a younger body double so you had a young mans face on a body that was clearly moving like an old man.
Pebob Baba 4 years ago
Except that he was supposed to look like he was in his 20s at the youngest age. The de-aging only made him look 50, not 20. Didn't work for me.
#15
Jennifer Connelly In 'American Pastoral' (2016)
Jason D'Rozario 4 years ago
When I looked at both of the photos, I was almost mistaken for her to be Demi Moore!
Laura Dawson 4 years ago
JC is still a very beautiful woman today at 50. Along with Brooke Shields, she is one of the beautiful-est women I have ever seen.
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#16
Brad Pitt In 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button' (2008)
#17
Joe Pesci In 'Irishman' (2019)
#18
Paul Reubens In 'Pee Wee's Big Holiday' (2016)
Melissa Nunya 4 years ago
I thought it was just a lot of pancake makeup like that character always wore. Didn't realize it was computer de aged
#19
Dwayne Johnson In 'Central Intelligence' (2016)
Casey B 4 years ago
The beginning of the movie his character is overweight and is constantly being taunted and humiliated by his classmates. Years later he is an ultra-fit government agent but still has the mindset of that bullied teenager.
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Asep Sofian 4 years ago (edited)
At least this is better than the Scorpion King from The Mummy Returns. Slightly anyway...
#20
Johnny Depp In 'Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales' (2015)
Skai Metcalf 4 years ago
He looks like a Johnny Depp impersonator, and not even a good one. He doesn't even look like himself
Laura Maeflower 4 years ago
I didn't think it was too bad until he spoke, that made it terrible lol
Tinley's Aunt 4 years ago
No, just no. There are so many early Johnny Depp movies to use as models. Why make him look like as far from Johnny Depp as possible?
Ece Cenker 4 years ago
How did they not look at Jumpstreet at all?! Where are his magnificent cheek bones?!
#21
Jeff Bridges In 'Tron: Legacy' (2010)
Alison Wells 4 years ago
Well, he WAS supposed to be a video game character...
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Tinley's Aunt 4 years ago
They got the eyes right, but from the eyes down his face is wrong. The nose is too wide, the teeth are off somehow, it's just not early Jeff Bridges.
Vaida Kuodytė 4 years ago
Bad. So bad. Beowulf-bad. Game engines can do that on-the-fly nowadays. It's nowhere near realistic enough.
Sinkvenice 4 years ago
The speech did not match the mouth movements at all, it was really bad.
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What do you think ?
Teucer T 4 years ago
It gets scarier. They are closing in on the point where they can create algorithms that can mimic how an actor/actress actually acts... Meaning they can bring an actor "back from the dead" for a part and put him in a part and the result would be indistinguishable from a live actor. Am wondering when they'll learn that it's cheaper to use deceased actors and we get a new sitcom staring John Belushi and Robin Williams.
Lexi Mitchell 4 years ago
I don’t know, I mean the youngified cgi is mostly okay, but they still all look really off when they speak, or move. Also a lot of estates of these actors actually require payment for people to use the deceased’s likeness, so I’m not sure it WOULD be cheaper. Plus you’re forgetting how many people would start finding it really creepy to have new movies starring people who died forever ago.
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Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Given how much film they have of these people when younger ----- they better look realistically like their younger selves. (Depp excepted, as that one seems a bit botched, IMO.) Oh well. Soon we'll just have CGI anyway.
Kristin Ingersoll 4 years ago
This made no sense. The tilte, "21 Movie Ant TV Show Actors Who Were Digitally De-Aged" made no sense at all, so I clicked to see what it was. Is it someone who used photoshop to make actors looks younger? Or... fatter? Ooooookay. Very strange.
Amelia 4 years ago
It's basically just a collection of movies that showed the advancing technologies for special effects. They're not originally pictures, they're movie scenes. It's impressive, or arguably scary. It's cool for entertainment, but it could be used for other purposes too.
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Teucer T 4 years ago
It gets scarier. They are closing in on the point where they can create algorithms that can mimic how an actor/actress actually acts... Meaning they can bring an actor "back from the dead" for a part and put him in a part and the result would be indistinguishable from a live actor. Am wondering when they'll learn that it's cheaper to use deceased actors and we get a new sitcom staring John Belushi and Robin Williams.
Lexi Mitchell 4 years ago
I don’t know, I mean the youngified cgi is mostly okay, but they still all look really off when they speak, or move. Also a lot of estates of these actors actually require payment for people to use the deceased’s likeness, so I’m not sure it WOULD be cheaper. Plus you’re forgetting how many people would start finding it really creepy to have new movies starring people who died forever ago.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Given how much film they have of these people when younger ----- they better look realistically like their younger selves. (Depp excepted, as that one seems a bit botched, IMO.) Oh well. Soon we'll just have CGI anyway.
Kristin Ingersoll 4 years ago
This made no sense. The tilte, "21 Movie Ant TV Show Actors Who Were Digitally De-Aged" made no sense at all, so I clicked to see what it was. Is it someone who used photoshop to make actors looks younger? Or... fatter? Ooooookay. Very strange.
Amelia 4 years ago
It's basically just a collection of movies that showed the advancing technologies for special effects. They're not originally pictures, they're movie scenes. It's impressive, or arguably scary. It's cool for entertainment, but it could be used for other purposes too.
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