Hollywood Films Making Actors Look Years Younger
2020-01-18
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1"The Irishman" is competing against eight other movies for one of the film industry's highest awards: the Oscar for best picture.
2When that award is announced in February, many people may pay close attention to the special effects teams that make it and similar films possible.
3Martin Scorsese directed the "The Irishman."
4It tells a story that extends over 30 years.
5One of the stars, Robert De Niro, is 76 years old in real life.
6But on camera, he and his co-stars play characters from their 30s into old age.
7It is something that made the film one of 2019's most celebrated movies.
8In the film industry, making actors look younger on camera is called "de-aging."
9A number of movies released last year have used new digital de-aging techniques to make stars look young.
10Samuel L. Jackson and Will Smith appeared in films that made them look like younger men.
11Some critics are calling 2019 an important year for de-aging effects in film.
12There are several methods using computers to make actors look younger than they are.
13In "The Irishman," the filmmakers avoided using tracking markers.
14Tracking markers are dots painted onto actors' faces that let computers mathematically reproduce facial movements.
15The young faces of De Niro and others in "The Irishman" are the work of Pablo Helman.
16He is a visual effects supervisor at a company called Industrial Light and Magic.
17In the past, Helman received Oscar nominations for his work on "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" and "War of the Worlds."
18He said the decision not to use tracking markers came directly from Scorsese and De Niro.
19Use of such markers require an actor to wear a headpiece with small cameras attached.
20Helman told The Associated Press that such equipment can interfere with an actor's thinking while they are working.
21"He's going to want to be in the moment with Joe Pesci and Al Pacino on set, with no markers on him.
22So, if you're going to capture the performance, how are you going to do that?"
23Instead, Scorsese used a "three-headed monster," a piece of equipment with three cameras on it.
24It has a director camera in the center and "witness" cameras on either side that take infrared pictures.
25The infrared cameras do not record shadows created from lighting on set.
26The shadows might interfere with the operations of the de-aging software.
27While the team at Industrial Light and Magic was working on "The Irishman," another group of technical experts was experimenting with de-aging at Weta Digital.
28The Weta team created a completely digital, 23-year-old version of Will Smith for the action movie "Gemini Man."
29"You have that many years of expertise of looking at a human face and knowing what's wrong," says Bill Westenhofer, one of the film's visual effects supervisors.
30He said trying to get all the different things to work well together can be difficult.
31The character Junior is the younger version of Will Smith's killer Henry Brogan in the film.
32To look like the younger character, Smith wore a gray tracksuit with two cameras attached to his head which captured his facial expressions through tracking markers.
33Before filming started on both "Gemini Man" and "The Irishman," each visual effects team found old films of their acting stars.
34Helman and his team then spent two years looking through old movies to document how De Niro, Pacino and Pesci looked at different ages.
35They created a program similar to ones used to make "deepfake" videos.
36Such programs can make people in videos look like someone else.
37In the case of "Gemini Man," filming Junior required Smith to spend time in a special room where many cameras captured his facial expressions under different lighting conditions.
38Scorsese has criticized movies made by Marvel Studios that used similar de-aging methods to "Gemini Man" as "not cinema."
39An example is the film "Captain Marvel" which also used tracking markers to make Samuel L. Jackson look much younger.
40Jackson's character is Nick Fury.
41The young Nick Fury was created by comparing images from old Jackson movies with his performance in "Captain Marvel."
42Jackson said he was lucky to have earlier films with enough facial expressions to do such a believable job in making his young Nick Fury.
43The de-aging effects were the work of a company called Lola Visual Effects.
44Weta Digital's Guy Williams said the de-aging of Jackson was well done.
45He added that "different approaches suit different requirements. It's not a one-size-fits-all kind of situation."
46Helman, who worked on "The Irishman," agrees.
47He believes that 2019 was a historic year for visual effects.
48"It's not by chance that we have several movies that have motion capture performance, facial performance, in three or four different ways," he said.
49"That shows that we're all thinking about digital humans."
50I'm Alice Bryant. And I'm Jill Robbins.
1"The Irishman" is competing against eight other movies for one of the film industry's highest awards: the Oscar for best picture. 2When that award is announced in February, many people may pay close attention to the special effects teams that make it and similar films possible. 3Martin Scorsese directed the "The Irishman." It tells a story that extends over 30 years. One of the stars, Robert De Niro, is 76 years old in real life. But on camera, he and his co-stars play characters from their 30s into old age. It is something that made the film one of 2019's most celebrated movies. 4In the film industry, making actors look younger on camera is called "de-aging." 5A number of movies released last year have used new digital de-aging techniques to make stars look young. Samuel L. Jackson and Will Smith appeared in films that made them look like younger men. 6Some critics are calling 2019 an important year for de-aging effects in film. 7The Irishman 8There are several methods using computers to make actors look younger than they are. 9In "The Irishman," the filmmakers avoided using tracking markers. Tracking markers are dots painted onto actors' faces that let computers mathematically reproduce facial movements. 10The young faces of De Niro and others in "The Irishman" are the work of Pablo Helman. He is a visual effects supervisor at a company called Industrial Light and Magic. In the past, Helman received Oscar nominations for his work on "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" and "War of the Worlds." 11He said the decision not to use tracking markers came directly from Scorsese and De Niro. Use of such markers require an actor to wear a headpiece with small cameras attached. 12Helman told The Associated Press that such equipment can interfere with an actor's thinking while they are working. 13"He's going to want to be in the moment with Joe Pesci and Al Pacino on set, with no markers on him. So, if you're going to capture the performance, how are you going to do that?" 14Instead, Scorsese used a "three-headed monster," a piece of equipment with three cameras on it. It has a director camera in the center and "witness" cameras on either side that take infrared pictures. The infrared cameras do not record shadows created from lighting on set. The shadows might interfere with the operations of the de-aging software. 15Gemini Man 16While the team at Industrial Light and Magic was working on "The Irishman," another group of technical experts was experimenting with de-aging at Weta Digital. 17The Weta team created a completely digital, 23-year-old version of Will Smith for the action movie "Gemini Man." 18"You have that many years of expertise of looking at a human face and knowing what's wrong," says Bill Westenhofer, one of the film's visual effects supervisors. He said trying to get all the different things to work well together can be difficult. 19The character Junior is the younger version of Will Smith's killer Henry Brogan in the film. To look like the younger character, Smith wore a gray tracksuit with two cameras attached to his head which captured his facial expressions through tracking markers. 20Where it starts 21Before filming started on both "Gemini Man" and "The Irishman," each visual effects team found old films of their acting stars. 22Helman and his team then spent two years looking through old movies to document how De Niro, Pacino and Pesci looked at different ages. They created a program similar to ones used to make "deepfake" videos. Such programs can make people in videos look like someone else. 23In the case of "Gemini Man," filming Junior required Smith to spend time in a special room where many cameras captured his facial expressions under different lighting conditions. 24Captain Marvel 25Scorsese has criticized movies made by Marvel Studios that used similar de-aging methods to "Gemini Man" as "not cinema." An example is the film "Captain Marvel" which also used tracking markers to make Samuel L. Jackson look much younger. 26Jackson's character is Nick Fury. The young Nick Fury was created by comparing images from old Jackson movies with his performance in "Captain Marvel." 27Jackson said he was lucky to have earlier films with enough facial expressions to do such a believable job in making his young Nick Fury. 28The de-aging effects were the work of a company called Lola Visual Effects. 29Weta Digital's Guy Williams said the de-aging of Jackson was well done. He added that "different approaches suit different requirements. It's not a one-size-fits-all kind of situation." 30Helman, who worked on "The Irishman," agrees. He believes that 2019 was a historic year for visual effects. 31"It's not by chance that we have several movies that have motion capture performance, facial performance, in three or four different ways," he said. "That shows that we're all thinking about digital humans." 32I'm Alice Bryant. And I'm Jill Robbins. 33The Associated Press reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter, Jr. was the editor. 34______________________________________________________________ 35Words in This Story 36dot - n. a very small round mark 37moment - n. a very short period of time 38infrared - adj. producing or using rays of light that cannot be seen and that are longer than rays that produce red light 39shadow - n. an area of darkness created when a source of light is blocked 40tracksuit - n. a special suit worn by actors to help capture a visual effect 41deepfake - n. videos in which one person's face is replaced by another's in order to trick viewers 42suit - v. to be proper or suitable for