HBO Used VFX De-Aging To Make John Goodman Look Younger In ‘The Righteous Gemstones’

Over the years, VFX technology has advanced to incorporate extremely accurate de-aging techniques. As many know, the tech was used on both Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino in Netflix‘s upcoming film The Irishman, but it has yet to be used in television. That is, until now.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, forms of de-aging vary greatly, and are usually dependent on project budgets. The most sophisticated (and expensive) methods involve creating a fully digital human, as what is seen in The Irishman as well as what is done with Will Smith in Gemini Man. Marvel has also dabbled in de-aging with characters such as Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury.

During the “Interlude” episode of HBO series The Righteous Gemstones, de-aging techniques were applied to take years off of John Goodman in a script that takes the form of a flashback to 1989. The budget wasn’t disclosed, but writer and director Danny McBride, who also appears in the series, knew that John Goodman would need to appear decades younger than his current age for nearly 30 minutes of screen time.

The work took an estimated six weeks to complete by VFX specialists Gradient Effects, who are located in Los Angeles and use proprietary AI-assisted software to help artists “reshape” an actor or performer in a frame, and then extend the final product across the rest of a scene. Essentially this means that Goodman didn’t have to be present in the studio in order for the work to be accomplished based on the footage alone.

This software, dubbed Shapeshifter, was employed by The Righteous Gemstones to analyze Goodman’s face, removing blemishes such as skin defects, stretching and muscle movements, according to Gradient owner and VFX supervisor Olcun Tan.

“With the extracted elements saved out as layers to be reapplied at the end of the process, artists could start reshaping his face without breaking the original performance or footage,” said Tan, “Artists could tweak additional frames in 3D down the line as needed.”

The result is a combination of specialized VFX as well as footage of the actor’s genuine performance. “Our technology allows you to take the existing performance; we’re not throwing away the face. It’s not a full reconstruction.”

The software has also been used in the past for body shaping, as seen in The Revenant. The studio helped to give Leonardo DeCaprio a more emaciated body as he weakens during the film.

Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor

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