10 Actors DE-AGED For Huge Movie Roles

Gemini Man achieved a cinematic first by pitting Will Smith against Will Smith, in what winds up as a battle royale rather than a battle of egos.

Former marine scout sniper turned assassin Henry (Smith) is hunted on the eve of his retirement by a boyish clone of himself known as Junior (also Smith), sent by the organisation he is seeking to leave. Rather than using the tried and tested tricks of the trade to shoot Smith in both roles - such as doubles, camera tricks and mashing up shots with split screens - director Ang Lee took a more novel approach.

Lee and his VFX team used Avatar-style performance capture from Smith in order to create a digitally rendered younger clone of his character, rather than working on top of his existing performance. This freed up the production from all the trappings of an actor playing two characters and allowed a greater scope for what Lee could do with his blocking, staging and camerawork.

The results are convincing enough, if a little rubbery, but it's hard to see why they bothered, when Jaden Smith was right there. Maybe everyone involved didn't want a repeat of 2013's After Earth?