10 Actors DE-AGED For Huge Movie Roles
And there you thought Keanu Reeves and Nic Cage were the only ones who could age backwards!
Hollywood is the land of the immortal, where stars live fast and never seem to age. But, while many of our favourite actors seem to have cut a deal with father time to stave off the wrinkles, sags and liver spots, none of them have yet found a way to wind the clock backwards.
And that's where the movie magic comes in, because while the thesps may not be able to do it themselves, directors, practical effects teams and VFX effects wizards are always on hand to erase the lines, trim the fat, and take the luckiest (or unluckiest) of stars back to their younger years on screen.
Indeed, there are a multitude of different ways in which actors have been able to successfully age backwards for big parts, from multi-film prosthetics to whole film digital transformations and more. And for a weird and wonderful variety of reasons, all of which represent a major commitment to the technology and form - so throwaway flashback scenes alone don't count! Looking at you, Central Intelligence.
Whap out the hyaluronic and get the plastic surgeon on the blower, because it's time to feel extremely old after seeing how these 10 actors de-aged for their major movie roles.
10. Paul Reubens - Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016)
Pee-wee's Big Holiday proves that has-been comedy characters can make a bold, road trip-shape return to the big screen and still come up trumps, despite what Mr Bean's Holiday (2007) has to say about it. But it couldn't have been done without Pee-wee actor Paul Reubens committing to the bit.
Reprising his role as quirky oddball Pee-Wee Herman nearly three decades on from the last cinematic appearance of his character in Big Top Pee-wee (1988), Reubens had to look the part. Rather than take the sad-and-broken-old-man Indiana Jones/Obi-Wan approach, director John Lee would settle for nothing less than the original Pee-wee on full, youthful, flexible form.
Reubens certainly still had the slapstick sensibility, and the physicality to match, but his face told another story... Even on someone as preternaturally youthful as Reubens, 30 years takes a toll.
To combat some of the lines, wrinkles and general road-wear, the actor was de-aged and de-wrinkled digitally in post-production, with it taking the effects team around five months to edit the 63-year-old's appearance in every single frame of footage. But it's hard to argue with the subtle and pretty much seamless results.