Harrison Ford defends de-aging technology in new ‘Indiana Jones’ movie

21 May, 2023

Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford has defended a 25-minute scene in the forthcoming fifth installment of Indiana Jones in which he is de-aged. 

It comes after a recent trailer for Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny ffeatured a jaw-dropping moment when a bag is pulled from Ford’s head to reveal a significantly younger version of him created through the use of VFX technology.

The film’s team shared that new VFX technology was created for the film in order to de-age the 80 year-old, using artificial intelligence to comb through all of the decades-old footage the Lucasfilm studio had of him.

But it has drawn criticism from some reviewers who questioned the believability of the technology and why a younger actor couldn’t be used in Ford’s place.

But he hit back in a press conference on Friday (May 19) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

“I know that that is my face,” he said, via Entertainment Weekly. “It’s not a kind of Photoshop magic – that’s what I looked like 35 years ago. Because Lucasfilm has every frame of film that we’ve made together over all of these years.

“This process, this scientific mining of this library, this was put to good [use]… It’s just a trick unless it’s supported by a story, and it sticks out like a sore thumb if it’s not honest, it’s not real… I mean, emotionally real. And so I think it was used very skillfully.”

The fifth instalment received mixed reactions, with some praising it as delivering “exactly what you expect from an Indiana Jones adventure”, while others criticised it as being “a belaboured reminder that some relics are better left where and when they belong.”

Ford meanwhile was moved to the verge of tears after receiving the Palme d’Or award for lifetime achievement at Cannes.

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny is set for release on June 30.

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