Ant-Man DVD: 10 Things We Learned From Director's Commentary

10. The De-Aging Effects On Michael Douglas Made Peyton Reed Nervous

Right out of the gate, Reed speaks about how he was "most nervous" about the de-aging effects on Michael Douglas' character in the 1989 prologue (set in the still-under construction Triskelion from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, by the way), more so than any other VFX in the film. Which is slightly crazy, considering that the sequences in which Ant-Man actually shrinks down were arguably going to be a huge deciding factor in whether audiences believed in (or enjoyed) the character. For anyone who wants to know how the process is achieved, Reed gives an interesting breakdown; it basically amounts to Douglas acting with dots on his face, a younger body double acting the same scene with dots on his face, and the final step of 3D laser-scanning Douglas' face. There's probably a few more steps, but hey, there was a lot to cover in the commentary. Regardless, the effects ended up looking great (completely blowing the work on Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy out of the water, incidentally), and inspire interesting ideas as to what might happen in the future of cinema - maybe Harrison Ford could even star in his own damn Han Solo prequel.