Tom Hanks, Robin Wright Digitally De-Aged, by Decades, in New Film

The film utilizes traditional makeup effects and digital de-aging technology.

Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Women's Cancer Research Fund
Tom Hanks speaks onstage during 'An Unforgettable Evening' benefiting the Women's Cancer Research Fund. Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Women's Cancer Research Fund

Actors Tom Hanks and Robin Wright appear decades younger in the new movie “Here,” directed by Robert Zemeckis — a film in which the camera never moves for the entire 104-minute running time, according to a new report.

The highly anticipated movie marks the actors’ reunion with Mr. Zemeckis, who previously directed them in the iconic film “Forrest Gump.” The screenplay for “Here” was co-written by Mr. Zemeckis and Eric Roth, the scribe behind “Forrest Gump.”

“Here” is based on Richard McGuire’s 2014 graphic novel of the same name. The story unfolds over a century, all within a single location. The unique aspect of the film is that the camera remains fixed inside a home, showcasing the stories of the people who lived there. Mr. Hanks and Ms. Wright play the central couple in the film.

“The single perspective never changes, but everything around it does,” Mr. Zemeckis recently told Vanity Fair. “It’s actually never been done before. There are similar scenes in very early silent movies, before the language of montage was invented. But other than that, yeah, it was a risky venture.”

“That’s the excitement of it,” he added. “What passes by this view of the universe? I think it’s an interesting way to do a meditation on mortality. It taps into the universal theme that everything passes.”

Mr. Hanks takes on the role of Richard, a baby boomer, while Ms. Wright portrays his late teenage girlfriend and eventual wife, Margaret. The film utilizes traditional makeup effects and digital de-aging technology to depict Mr. Hanks as both a teenager and an 80-year-old man throughout the decades-spanning story.

“It only works because the performances are so good,” Mr. Zemeckis said, according to Variety. “Both Tom and Robin understood instantly that, ‘Okay, we have to go back and channel what we were like 50 years ago or 40 years ago, and we have to bring that energy, that kind of posture, and even raise our voices higher.’ That kind of thing.”

The film also features other characters who inhabit the home over the years. These include Richard’s parents, Al (Paul Bettany) and Rose (Kelly Reilly), a couple from the turn of the 20th century portrayed by Michelle Dockery and Gwilym Lee, and an inventor alongside a pin-up model from the 1920s played by David Fynn and Ophelia Lovibond, among others.


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