Actors Who Were De-Aged for Roles Using Special Visual Effects

Harrison Ford in 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'

The action franchise added a blast from the past to its latest installment. The movie will open with a decades-younger Harrison Ford, his appearance digitally altered by special de-aging effects. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny doesn't come out until summer 2023, but fans got an early peek at the youth-restoring technology during the film's trailer, which shows the adventurer in a flashback set in 1944.

Speaking to Empire, Ford shared that the VFX software used to de-age him was eerily impressive.

"This is the first time I've seen it where I believe it," he said of the tech. "It's a little spooky," Ford continued. "I don't think I even want to know how it works, but it works."

Samuel L. Jackson in 'Captain Marvel'

Samuel L. Jackson got a 25-year de-aging treatment as Agent Nick Fury in the 2019 film Captain Marvel. While it wasn't the first time the superhero studio used the technology, it was certainly the most they'd used it, since Jackson appeared on screen so frequently. In order to capture his youthful look, the special effects team referenced a number of his '90s works, like Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Negotiator and the Star Wars prequel The Phantom Menace.

"It was pretty amazing," Marvel special effects supervisor Janelle Croshaw Ralla told Insider. "You could go back to those movies and find exact frames where he looked exactly the same, like the exact same expression. He was just aged."

Jackson took to social media to share his appreciation for the tech, posting an Instagram photo of his de-aged self in character. "Wow, this Marvel de-aging thing is doper than I thought!" he said in the caption.

Robert De Niro in 'The Irishman'

It took several years of planning to successfully execute the extensive de-aging process of Robert De Niro in The Irishman. De Niro played Frank Sheeran over the course of 50 years, meaning his character would certainly need to appear both young and old throughout the film. Director Martin Scorcese began collaborating with George Lucas' special effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, four years before the movie premiered.

According to the L.A. Times, de-aging the 76-year-old actor — as well as his costars, like Al Pacino — required brand new tech, especially since the cast refused to allow motion-capture tech intrude on their scene work. The end result combined the efforts of visual effects professionals, makeup artists, costume designers and sound engineers.

Robert Downey Jr. in 'Captain America: Civil War'

Thanks to de-aging tech, viewers saw a younger Robert Downey Jr. during one Captain America: Civil War flashback scene. Trent Claus, who supervises visual effects at the award-winning company Lola VFX, explained the de-aging process to The Hollywood Reporter, comparing it to Photoshop but with more frames to alter.

"One thing that happens to all of us is that the skin of the face gradually lowers in certain areas, and needs to be 'lifted' back to where it was at the age in question," Claus said of Downey Jr.'s transformation into a younger Tony Stark. He added that "working with the appearance of a well-known actor" added the "pressure of living up to the youthful appearance that audiences remember."

Jeff Bridges in 'Tron: Legacy'

In revisiting his original Tron character, Clu, Jeff Bridges also had to revisit the age he was when appeared in the 1982 film. The sequel Tron: Legacy grafted Bridges' 35-year-old skin onto the actor — then age 61 — in one of Hollywood's earliest uses of de-aging technology.

"It's bizarre. It's great news for me, because now it means I can play myself at any age," Bridges said around the time of the movie's premiere in 2010.

Jennifer Connelly in 'American Pastoral'

For Jennifer Connelly's role in the 2016 movie American Pastoral, Lola VFX supervisor Trent Claus told TheWrap that his team aimed to make her look as she did in 1991's The Rocketeer, when she was 19. They digitally enhanced the actress' face size to make her look more full and youthful, rounding out her chin, cheeks and jawline, and even added "baby fat" using the de-aging tech.

Brad Pitt in 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'

The clock ran backwards for Brad Pitt's titular character in 2008's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, so there was ample need for de-aging technology throughout the movie. The actor, who was 44 at the time of filming, needed to appear both old and young, since the plot revolved around his character's rare reverse-aging disorder.

The film won the Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, all of which contributed to the on-screen illusion of Pitt's change in appearance throughout the film. Even the man under the tech and prosthetics appreciated the look into his future.

"I had a little control over it. I got to shape it and sculpt it," Pitt told PEOPLE of his older appearance in 2009. "I doubt gravity and time will be that kind."

Paul Reubens in 'Pee-wee's Big Holiday'

In reprising his role as the ageless Pee-wee Herman, Paul Reubens' 63-year-old face was lifted and de-wrinkled using the magic of technology. According to reports by The Washington Post, it took about five months to edit Reuben's appearance in every frame of the 2016 film, a feat carried out by 10 experts from a company called Vitality Visual Effects.

Johnny Depp in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'

The fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie featured a young Captain Jack Sparrow in a long flashback scene, one that required serious de-aging behind the scenes. Johnny Depp appeared in younger pirate form thanks to a combination of CGI and the help of another actor.

"Johnny would do the performance, and then we would have the body double watch Johnny to the smallest detail," Gary Brozenich of Moving Picture Company told Inverse about the anti-aging magic brought to the 2017 flick. "What that gave us, the VFX team, was a target for what younger skin looks like: how it reacts, how, sadly, young flesh moves differently to older flesh."

Anthony Hopkins in 'Westworld'

Though de-aging technology is mostly used in major blockbuster films, HBO's Westworld brought in the tech for a flashback with Anthony Hopkins' character Dr. Ford. The show's visual effects supervisor, Jay Worth, spoke to Thrillist about the youth-restoring task that made the scene possible.

According to Worth, they referenced past films and photos of a young Hopkins, who was 78 at the time of production, but the effects team had a bit of creative flexibility with his flashback appearance since the audience was theoretically less familiar with Hopkins' earlier work.

"America doesn't really remember Sir Tony before Silence of the Lambs. Obviously we found every reference we could from every movie and every photo and everything from the correct timeframe," said Worth. "But it really came down to what feels most like our character in the past, as much as anything."

Mark Hamill in 'The Mandalorian'

The Mandalorian season 2 finale saw a cameo from Mark Hamill, who returned to his iconic role of Luke Skywalker — and looked the part. Hamill's youthful appearance as the beloved Jedi was made possible with CGI, but the actor — who was nearly 70 when the episode was filmed — shut down any skepticism about his involvement in filming.

"This is for those who claimed the character was accomplished exclusively with CGI, without my participation," the actor wrote online, retweeting a behind the scenes photo of himself in costume and on set.

Michael Douglas in 'Ant-Man'

The visual effects professionals at Lola VFX were behind Michael Douglas' youthful appearance in Ant-Man, so the end result came out convincing. But the film's director, Peyton Reed, told Vanity Fair that they had a young Douglas lookalike on standby just in case the effects didn't come out right.

"I was incredibly nervous," said Reed. "If that effect didn't come off, it's the first scene in the movie ..." He also added that the final product on screens combined elements of the body double and the digitally de-aged Douglas. "From my standpoint, we wanted to gather as much material for Lola [VFX] to have at their disposal to create this effect."

Michelle Pfeiffer in 'Ant-Man and The Wasp'

Ant-Man and The Wasp began in a similar way to the first film: with a flashback. This time, viewers got to see a younger Michelle Pfeiffer, too, using the same visual effects that made Michael Douglas look decades younger. (Douglas also received the de-aging treatment in the second movie.) Pfeiffer's body double, Hayley Lovitt, was credited as Young Janet van Dyne, even though her face is covered by CGI of the older actress.