Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford has defended the decision to use “de-aging” technology in portions of the franchise’s new film.
The 80-year-old star recently reprised his role as the iconic action hero in Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, his fifth outing as Indy which is slated for release next month.
So far, the film has received some rather mixed reviews – with one section in which Harrison is “de-aged” using computer trickery for a flashback sequence proving to be particularly divisive.
While critics can’t agree on whether or not they like it, it seems Harrison himself is very much in favour of the new technology.
“I know that that is my face,” he insisted during a press conference to promote the film (via Entertainment Weekly).
“It’s not a kind of Photoshop magic — that’s what I looked like 35 years ago. Because Lucasfilm [the production company behind Indiana Jones and Star Wars] has every frame of film that we’ve made together over all of these years. And this process, this scientific mining of this library, this was put to good [use].”
Harrison added that the technology is “just a trick unless it’s supported by a story”, which “sticks out like a sore thumb” if it’s not “honest” and “emotionally real”.
“I think it was used very skilfully,” he concluded.
On the subject of aging, Harrison told reporters: “I’m very happy with it, but I don’t look back and say, ‘I wish I was that guy again,’ because I don’t’.
“I’m real happy with age. I love being older. It was great to be young, but shitfire, I could be dead, and I’m still working.”
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival last week, and received a five-minute standing ovation, although it’s fair to say reception among critics has been noticeably more split.
Other films and TV shows to have employed de-aging tech in recent history include latter instalments in the Star Wars franchise and the Oscar-nominated Netflix crime drama The Irishman.
The first four instalments in the Indiana Jones franchise will be available to stream on Disney+ from 31 May.
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