Harrison Ford will be de-aged for about 25 minutes of the highly anticipated Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, director James Mangold has confirmed.
Fans were already aware that the film, which is set for release this summer, was using state-of-the-art VFX technology to have Ford appear younger.
But it has now been revealed that the actor will look around the same age he was in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark for a full 25 minute segment of the movie, rather than a one-off flashback scene.
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It's understood that the plan is to open Dial of Destiny on Indy's younger years in 1944, before fast-forwarding to 1969, where an older Harrison Ford will appear.
Director James Mangold said that the mammoth goal of de-aging Ford for an extended time was made relatively easy since the now 80-year-old actor is 'incredibly gifted and agile', and more than capable of 'pretending that he was 35.'
Plus, the technology that the Indiana Jones team are working with to make this happen is next level.
"We had hundreds of hours of footage of him in close-ups, in mediums, in wides, in every kind of lighting, night and day," said Mangold, per Variety.
"I could shoot Harrison on a Monday as a 79-year-old playing a 35-year-old, and I could see dailies by Wed. with his head already replaced."
The director continued: "It wasn’t a year of effort to get to a first pass.
"It was an incredible technology, and, in many ways, I just didn’t think about it. I just focused on shooting what’s [approximately] a 25-minute opening extravaganza that was my chance to just let it rip.
"The goal was to give the audience a full-bodied taste of what they missed so much. Because then when the movie lands in 1969, they’re going to have to make an adjustment to what it is now, which is different from what it was."
Ford himself has spoken about being digitally de-aged in the upcoming movie, admitting it was 'spooky' to see himself looking young again.
“This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it," he told Empire.
“It’s a little spooky. I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works.”
Meanwhile, producer Kathleen Kennedy said that she has high hopes for how the visual effects make audiences feel when the film finally hits cinemas.
"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,’” she said.
"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.'"
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is set to hit theatres on 30 June.
Topics: Film and TV, Harrison Ford, Indiana Jones, Celebrity, Technology
Ali Condon