Digital De-Aging: AI, VFX, and the Uncanny Valley
Digital de-aging is a visual effects technique that has enjoyed a speedy rise in popularity in recent years. Its magical ability to turn back the biological clock on Hollywood’s most recognizable faces has piqued the interest of audiences and industry professionals alike.
The general public first caught a glimpse of the practice in the X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), where a wrinkle-free Patrick Stewart appears in a flashback scene, looking no older than his days as Captain Picard in Star Trek. Though this was a small first step for digital de-aging (can you think of anyone easier to de-age?), VFX studios were quick to develop and refine the process in the years to come. Utilizing artificial intelligence, an army of artists, and a wealth of old reference footage, studios have been able to shed decades off their subject’s age. The results, of course, can vary in quality. A common pitfall is that of the uncanny valley – a phenomenon in which an object closely, but not completely, resembles a human, causing an unsettling feeling for the viewer. As advances in visual computing and A.I have greatly reduced this risk, ambitions have grown exponentially. The technique’s prevalence raises a number of questions about why production companies are willing to invest so many resources into de-aging their old superstars. To answer these, it might help to start with the history and technology behind de-aging in film.
An important landmark for digital methods of de-aging, and perhaps one of the most ambitious examples, is that of Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), in which he plays a man who is born old and experiences aging in reverse order. Having brushed against the limits of conventional technology, the visual effects team – hundreds of artists strong – developed a solution using a new combination of techniques including multi-camera facial capture, A.I.-powered computer vision software, and a facial decoding system borrowed from research in cognitive science. The final product, which used an entirely digital model in place of Pitt for its first hour of runtime, seemed to avoid the uncanny valley successfully enough, becoming a box office hit and winning the Academy Award for Visual Effects. More importantly, it proved the power and potential of digital de-aging to Hollywood.
Over the past decade and a half, digital de-aging has become a common practice for large production and effects companies. Advances in artificial intelligence have particularly streamlined the process and created new possibilities. Disney and its VFX houses are among the biggest users and developers of this technology: last year, its internal research department announced FRAN, their own A.I.-powered age manipulation tool. Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm have also begun to use de-aging more frequently. Stars like Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Robert Downey Jr. have appeared in flashback scenes with a look that closely resembles their early roles as actors. The wealth of old footage of such stars available to visual effects artists and AI tools isn’t just useful, but necessary to de-age actors. Artists often pick a specific set of films from the actor’s career to base the de-aged character’s likeness off of. Studios have also been known to pull from internal unreleased footage of actors – outtakes and behind-the-scenes film – as supplemental data. Computer vision software is able to comb through hundreds of hours of sample footage of a subject, extrapolating a final product from existing images that would have taken hundreds of artists to accomplish.
The past few years have also seen curious partnerships between long-established directors and tech firms. Robert Zemeckis recently announced a collaboration with the artificial intelligence company Metaphysic to de-age Tom Hanks and Robin Wright for his upcoming film Here. Martin Scorsese’s 3-hour epic The Irishman (2019) stars Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino, all in their late seventies, but manages to effortlessly drop decades off their age with digital de-aging technology courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic. The film’s reliance on quieter, dialogue-driven scenes lends itself well to the de-aging process, while more physical scenes vary in awkwardness.
Whether viewed as harmless embellishment or an alarming attack on authenticity, digital de-aging no doubt speaks to a larger movement happening within Hollywood. In the post-pandemic age of streaming, feature-length movies are fewer and budgets are smaller. Movies that do decide to fight the upward battle of turning a profit in theaters seem to bank on familiarity. Evidenced by the perpetual sequels, endless superhero universes, and typecasting of the same roles to our ever-dwindling set of traditional media stars, the time of a “next big thing” in Hollywood could be over with. For young rising stars, the medium does not offer the same generosity that it did to previous generations. Our Timothée Chalamets and Zendayas – the (barely) Gen Z success stories of traditional media – are becoming fewer and farther between. For older stars, however, Hollywood seems willing to accommodate them as long as they keep people watching. Digital de-aging is merely the latest piece of evidence.