Here Marks a Milestone in AI-Powered Visual Effects in Hollywood
On Friday, TriStar Pictures released Here, a $50 million Robert Zemeckis–directed film that used real-time generative AI face transformation techniques to portray actors Tom Hanks and Robin Wright across a 60-year span, marking one of Hollywood’s first full-length features built around AI-powered visual effects.
The Film’s Visual Effects
The film adapts a 2014 graphic novel set primarily in a New Jersey living room across multiple time periods. Rather than cast different actors for various ages, the production used AI to modify Hanks’ and Wright’s appearances throughout.
The de-aging technology comes from Metaphysic, a visual effects company that creates real-time face swapping and aging effects. During filming, the crew watched two monitors simultaneously: one showing the actors’ actual appearances and another displaying them at whatever age the scene required.
How the Technology Works
Metaphysic developed the facial modification system by training custom machine-learning models on frames of Hanks’ and Wright’s previous films. This included a large dataset of facial movements, skin textures, and appearances under varied lighting conditions and camera angles. The resulting models can generate instant face transformations without the months of manual post-production work traditional CGI requires.
Unlike previous aging effects that relied on frame-by-frame manipulation, Metaphysic’s approach generates transformations instantly by analyzing facial landmarks and mapping them to trained age variations.
Industry Impact
“You couldn’t have made this movie three years ago,” Zemeckis told The New York Times in a detailed feature about the film. Traditional visual effects for this level of face modification would reportedly require hundreds of artists and a substantially larger budget closer to standard Marvel movie costs.
This isn’t the first film that has used AI techniques to de-age actors. ILM’s approach to de-aging Harrison Ford in 2023’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny used a proprietary system called Flux with infrared cameras to capture facial data during filming, then old images of Ford to de-age him in postproduction. By contrast, Metaphysic’s AI models process transformations without additional hardware and show results during filming.
Rumbles in the Unions
Rumbles in the Unions
The film Here arrives as major studios explore AI applications beyond just visual effects. Companies like Runway have been developing text-to-video generation tools, while others create AI systems like Callaia for script analysis and preproduction planning. However, recent guild contracts place strict limits on AI’s use in creative processes like scriptwriting.
Meanwhile, as we saw with the SAG-AFTRA union strike last year, Hollywood studios and unions continue to hotly debate AI’s role in filmmaking. While the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild secured some AI limitations in recent contracts, many industry veterans see the technology as inevitable. “Everyone’s nervous,” Susan Sprung, CEO of the Producers Guild of America, told The New York Times. “And yet no one’s quite sure what to be nervous about.”
Conclusion
Here marks a significant milestone in the use of AI-powered visual effects in Hollywood. The film’s innovative approach to de-aging actors has raised questions about the future of filmmaking and the role of AI in the industry. While some are concerned about the impact on jobs and creative processes, others see the technology as a game-changer that will revolutionize the way movies are made.
FAQs
Q: What is Metaphysic’s AI-powered facial modification system?
A: Metaphysic’s system uses machine-learning models trained on frames of actors’ previous films to generate instant face transformations without the need for manual post-production work.
Q: How does Metaphysic’s system work?
A: The system analyzes facial landmarks and maps them to trained age variations, generating transformations instantly without the need for additional hardware.
Q: What is the impact of AI-powered visual effects on the film industry?
A: AI-powered visual effects have the potential to revolutionize the way movies are made, reducing costs and increasing efficiency. However, they also raise questions about the future of jobs and creative processes in the industry.
