10 Movie Industry Secrets You Didn't Know
9. Digital De-Aging Has Been Happening WAY Longer Than You Think
One of the more recent trends in blockbuster filmmaking is digital de-aging, whereby films use cutting-edge CGI to present convincing younger versions of actors, no matter whether that actor is actually alive today or not.
It's naturally a divisive trend due to both the mixed results of the visual effects themselves and the ethical concerns of people having their likenesses posthumously appropriated, even with the dead actors' estate giving the go-ahead.
But digital de-aging has been around far longer than the Marvel Cinematic Universe or even X-Men: The Last Stand, typically being used less for obvious flashback sequences and more for subtle "touch-ups" as you'd expect to see in a fashion magazine.
Perhaps the earliest notable case is 1995's Waterworld, where star Kevin Costner reportedly had his receding hairline "fixed" in post-production.
This practise began to be regularly used in the early 2000s yet has only been widely reported on in recent years.
Unsurprisingly, the identities of actors who have had their crows feet removed, skin folds airbrushed, and so on are held under an enormous amount of secrecy.
But if you see VFX companies Lola, Method or Hydraulx listed in a movie's credits, at least one cast member - typically an A-lister - has had their features youthified, often in every single shot in which they appear, at an enormous cost no less.