Cutting-edge technology can transform our favorite actors into all kinds of crazy characters. Nowadays, they often transform into... their younger selves?
That's right — turning back time on the world's most recognizable faces is becoming more and more common as technology advances. It's hard to miss the trend, especially since it's employed in the biggest blockbuster movies. De-aging is useful for prequel films, flashbacks to a character's younger days, or just for the sake of keeping A-list faces looking their best. Unfortunately, some de-aging just doesn't look right.
Some movies de-age actors for mere seconds; short scenes, sometimes without much motion or dialogue. Other movies create entirely new characters with the concept using computer generated imagery and even some practical effects to boot. Sure, it is ambitious technology that still needs improvement (and its merit should be noted), but it can make characters look anywhere from slightly uncanny to downright scary.
The list collects some of the most recent attempts at de-aging actors to see just how cringeworthy they can get. It might seem weird at first glance, but de-aging actors is the future of cinematic technology. Apparently the future is now — for better or for worse.
Here are 17 Actors Made Younger With Crazy CGI.
Jeff Bridges In Tron: Legacy
When 2011's Tron: Legacy called for the return of Tron characters Kevin Flynn and CLU, Disney chose to do something bizarre. Jeff Bridges portrays both characters, just as he did in the original. However, since CLU is a computer program, he was made to look younger with special effects and motion capture— and it shows in the worst way.
It looks like somebody took Jeff Bridges and made a rubber action figure out of him.
This is only made worse by Jeff Bridges' actual appearance in the film, featuring long gray hair and a full beard. The physical contrast of the two is immediately apparent, but it doesn't make Jeff Bridges look old — it makes his CGI doppelganger look silly. It was a pretty advanced visual technique, but maybe a little too ambitious for the time.
Michael Douglas In Ant-Man
Disney has invested more money in de-aging techniques than most other movie studios. This is especially apparent in its Marvel Studios projects, which land on this list more than once.
Michael Douglas is de-aged in Ant-Man, during a flashback scene featuring Douglas' character Hank Pym. The flashback takes Michael Douglas from 1989 and brings him to life in one of the more impressive instances on this list. It actually does look strikingly like young Michael Douglas for a little while.
As the scene plays out, Douglas speaks plenty of dialogue and becomes so physically animated (no pun intended) that he actually gets several close-ups. The scene starts out scarily realistic, but as he speaks and the camera moves in on him, the CGI begins to reveal itself.
His jaw becomes rubbery and his mouth looks increasingly fake.
Like most of these entries, it looks amazing until the actor starts to... well, move.
Carrie Fisher In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Her scene is short: she appears on screen for a few seconds, and speaks only one word. However, Carrie Fisher's appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story just seems... off. It's difficult to describe in specifics, and that's the problem with the uncanny valley — when a human replica is "incorrect" or "imperfect" in some way, feelings of discomfort alert us that something is not quite right.
Maybe it's in her eyes or the way her mouth moves, or something else entirely. All we know is that something just doesn't look right.
With that said, this cameo is one of the better entries on this list for its brevity and poignancy, especially after the violent scenes prior. Carrie Fisher may have ed away, and she may look like a weird mannequin in Rogue One, but it's a sweet scene that lands nicely once you get past her uncanny looks.
Robert Downey Jr. In Captain America: Civil War
Robert Downey Jr.'s de-aged Tony Stark hologram starts out in the background of the scene — far from the camera and the imperfections it reveals. Eventually, Tony moves closer to the foreground. He takes off a Santa hat that reveals a head too large for his body, and a face too large for his head. As the scene ends, he is given a closeup that shows plastic-smooth skin and an odd, uncanny expression of longing.
The young Downey Jr. looks like he walked out of Less Than Zero while his CGI model stands still.
Unfortunately, the longer you look, the worse it gets.
Eventually the real Tony steps into frame, revealing the age difference between himself and his hologram. RDJ is still a great-looking guy, but his doppelganger's baby-smooth skin and hollow expression is just plain creepy.
Johnny Depp In Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
The most recent entry in the Pirates franchise gave audiences a glimpse at Jack Sparrow's younger days.
Johnny Depp, who has become inseparable from the character, was aged-down for a five minute flashback that shows how he became Captain Jack in the first place.
Like most of Disney's attempts at pioneering this technique, it looks great from a distance, and even better standing still. Somebody behind the film must have known that, as Jack Sparrow's CGI face is only relegated to short intervals of screen time, and he barely says any lines close to the camera.
The dead giveaway comes with the closeups, where Jack's mouth looks wonky.
Has Jack really never changed his hair, though?
Orlando Bloom In The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug
Elves don't age. So when Orlando Bloom was scheduled to appear in The Hobbit trilogy as Legolas, the team decided he needed CGI facelift.
His appearance in the Lord of the Rings trilogy was ten years earlier, so he was de-aged to keep the character's appearance consistent.
This resulted in a Legolas with a shiny, glowing face that looks weird to keen-eyed viewers.
It isn't too distracting, mostly because Orlando Bloom hadn't visibly aged much in the decade between trilogies. If that was the case though, couldn't this have been achieved with some makeup? If not, then why didn't they bother to de-age Ian McKellen as Gandalf, who looks significantly older?
Maybe some makeup might have helped with the "elven glow" — and saved some money too.
Anthony Hopkins In Westworld
Now this one is super creepy. Not because it looks bad — but because it works almost too well.
Hopkins plays genius-megalomaniac Robert Ford in the HBO series Westworld, and quick flashbacks to his early days deg the theme park feature some scarily good de-aging.
The flashbacks are short and subtle, only using glimpses of young Ford. This is likely because the special effect is expensive, even for a big budget series like this one. Thankfully, this works in its favor: not showing the CGI model for long or with any excess animation only makes it more believable. It's short and sweet, and some of the best use of this technique so far.
It's creepy that it can look so realistic when staged just right.
Patrick Stewart & Sir Ian McKellen In X-Men: The Last Stand
One of the earliest attempts at digital de-aging came in X-Men: The Last Stand, during a flashback where Professor X and Magneto visit a young Jean Grey. The de-aging is minimal yet noticeable — the actors didn't actually look that different from their actual ages at the time, and the CGI was mostly used to make their skin look more youthful.
The effect still holds up well enough, and that's mostly thanks to Patrick Stewart and his secret fountain of youth. Seriously, does this man ever truly age? Unfortunately, his apparent agelessness only makes the CGI on Ian McKellen look worse, who was youngified a bit more drastically than his costar.
While Stewart looks like he's wearing lots of makeup, McKellen can't escape a rubbery, SFX glow.
Paul Reubens in Pee-wee's Big Holiday
Much like Legolas, apparently Pee-wee Herman isn't supposed to age. This became an issue in 2015's Pee-wee's Big Holiday, where 65 year-old Paul Reubens felt he wasn't physically appropriate for the role. CGI was used to de-age Reubens so that he looked more like the Pee-wee of 1988's Big Top Pee-wee.
The special effects aren't drastic. His wrinkles were cleared up, his laugh lines were softened, and any excess skin was either taped down, caked in makeup, or digitally removed. It makes sense for the whimsical man-child to never grow up, but this bizarrely youthful Pee-wee can be creepy at times, especially after all these years. The CGI might be subtle enough to go unnoticed amidst the bizarre Pee-wee antics, though.
Mike Myers In The Love Guru
There is a lot wrong with The Love Guru — cinematically, and maybe even morally - depending on who you are. We'll spare you the context: all you need to know is that Mike Myers appears as his younger self via primitive CGI. And by primitive, we mean he photoshopped his adult head onto a small child's body, and the results are fascinating.
Just kidding: the results are clearly horrible.
The fact that the special effects are so amateur is part of what makes it funny, but it becomes more unsettling with each twitch. Myers' head is way too big for the kids' body, and he doesn't look or sound like a child.
It's just an eerie composite of a boy with a giant Mike Myers head.
Again, the shoddy effects are part of the joke, but that doesn't mean it's exempt from the uncanny valley or a spot on this list.
