It’s not the years, it’s the mileage.
The makers of the upcoming fifth “Indiana Jones” film used movie magic to digitally de-age star Harrison Ford for an opening sequence set in 1944, director James Mangold told Empire magazine.
The scene, which depicts Nazis in a castle, aims to capture the spirit of the franchise’s original films imagined by director Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.
“I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast,” Mangold said.
Out next June, the untitled film marks the 80-year-old Ford’s first turn as the adventurer Indy since 2008′s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
“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’,” producer Kathleen Kennedy told Empire.
“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.’”
The franchise’s first three movies are set in 1930s, while its fourth takes place nearly two decades later. The latest film is partly set in 1969.
“Indiana Jones” becomes the latest high-profile project to employ de-aging technology. Martin Scorsese’s 2019 crime drama “The Irishman” made Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci look younger, while the live-action “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” did the same with Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
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