The veteran actor's new movie Here sees him and Robin Wright looking like teenagers again. It's the latest use of technology that could have far-reaching, and damaging, consequences. Tom Hanks's next film, Here, is set in the far future, the distant past, and every time period in between.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis and adapted from Richard McGuire's graphic novel of the same name, it jumps through the history of one piece of land, as seen from a single viewpoint over many thousands of years. Most of it, though, is about the decades when the area is part of an American house owned by a couple played by Hanks and Robin Wright. For fans of Forrest Gump (1994), the most significant aspect of the trailer, which debuted last week, was the reunion of its two stars along with its director Zemeckis.
But what was just as notable was the digital de-ageing that allowed Hanks and Wright to play the characters from their teens upwards. Hanks, now 67, is shown as being slim and fresh-faced, with a thick head of curly hair, just as he was when he was in Splash and Bachelor Party (1984) all those years ago. And if Zemeckis can achieve that effect in Here, how long can it be before such de-ageing is as common as using hair dye and make-up to knock a few years off an actor's apparent age? Zemeckis has always been fascinated by how people and places change over the decades – just think of Forrest Gump itself, as well as his Back to the Future trilogy.
He has also long been fascinated by digit.
