Harrison Ford Discusses Lucasfilm's Digital De-Aging Process for INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY
There were a lot of things to love about the first trailer that was released for Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but one of the coolest things to see was how impressive Harrison Ford’s de-aging looked! That might just be the best de-aging I’ve seen in a movie yet, and I can’t wait to see that whole scene teased in the trailer play out in the movie!
It looked so good, I couldn’t even tell digital de-aging was involved! It’s pretty insane to see how far filmmaking technology has come. During a recent interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Ford explained how the team at ILM de-aged him for the movie, saying:
"That is my actual face. At that age. They have this artificial intelligence program. It can go through every foot of film Lucasfilm owns, because I did a bunch of movies for them. They have all this footage, including film that wasn't printed ... They could mine it from where the light is coming from, the expression. But that's my actual face. I put little dots on my face and I say the words and they make it. It's fantastic."
It is fantastic! Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy previously talked about the technology, saying:
"My hope is that, although it will be talked about in terms of technology, you just watch it and go, 'Oh my God, they just found footage. This was a thing they shot 40 years ago.’ We're dropping you into an adventure, something Indy is looking for, and instantly you have that feeling, 'I'm in an Indiana Jones movie.'"
I just want to watch this movie already! The story for the film is set 1969, and Indiana Jones is “living against the backdrop of the space race – but the American effort to beat the Russians to the moon brings with it some uncomfortable truths for Indy.” It’s explained:
“The simple fact is that the moon-landing program was run by a bunch of ex-Nazis. How ‘ex’ they are is the question. And it gets up Indy’s nose… It’s not just that the model of what a hero is has completely changed. It’s not just that they’re looking for something where there’s nothing up there – it’s like Reno without the gambling, or whatever his line is. But the people that are behind it are, you know, his sworn enemies.”
The film comes from producer Steven Spielberg and it also stars Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Shaunette Renée Wilson (The Resident), and Thomas Kretschmann (Avengers: Age Of Ultron).
The film will open in theaters on June 30, 2023.