The fifth installment of Indiana Jones joins the list of movies that takes advantage of the De-aging VFX Technology. James Mangold, who took over the franchise from the legendary Steven Spielberg, will direct a sequence that will show Indy back in his prime days.
Harrison Ford, known for his iconic role as Indiana Jones will appear as a 40-year-old fighting against the Nazis. Per the rumors, the opening scene will be set in 1944, right after the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The new technology will help create the illusion by applying the de-aging effect to old footage from the 1981 film.
The new tech was somewhat unsuccessful on actors like Robert De Niro in The Irishman and Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. But, Ford reveals that “This is the first time I’ve seen [the technology] where I believe it. It’s a little spooky. I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works.”
Speaking of the upcoming sequel, Mangold explains he wanted “the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George [Lucas]-and-Steven [Spielberg] old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast. So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ’40s and ’60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days.”
Mads Mikkelsen, who plays alongside Ford, praises the 80-year-old saying, “[Ford]s an insanely powerful person. Not just as an actor, but physically. I remember the first day we were shooting, it was a night shoot, then we stopped at 5 a.m. — and then he got on his mountain bike and went biking for 50 kilometers [31 miles]. Harrison is a monster of a man, a very nice monster.”
Indiana Jones 5 will be released in theaters June 30, 2023.