This summer, audiences will be treated to a young Harrison Ford for 25 minutes in the highly anticipated ‘Indiana Jones 5: Dial of Destiny’, made possible by advanced Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) software. Although the news of a de-aged Ford was announced last year, Total Film’s recent interview with director James Mangold unveiled the extent of the digital transformation in the upcoming movie.

Bringing a younger Harrison Ford to life

Indiana Jones 5 begins with a scene set in 1944, approximately eight years after the events of ‘Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark’. Lucasfilm president and producer Kathleen Kennedy shared her hopes that the technology would blend seamlessly, making viewers believe they were watching genuine footage from 40 years ago. The film then jumps to 1969, with Indy working to stop the resurgence of Nazism.

The announcement of Ford’s extended youth coincides with Disney’s development of an AI capable of aging or de-aging actors with relative ease, as long as suitable images of the person at the desired age are available. Known as FRAN (face re-aging network), the technology was used in conjunction with footage from Ford’s earlier roles sourced from the Lucasfilm archives.

To assist the AI, Ford performed with dots on his face and maintained the physicality of a young man, impressing director Mangold. With the help of this innovative technology, Mangold could shoot Ford on a Monday and see the transformed footage by Wednesday. This breakthrough in de-aging technology is set to revolutionize the way stories are told on the big screen, beginning with ‘Indiana Jones 5’.