“Indiana Jones” fans already know that Harrison Ford will be de-aged for parts of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the fifth film in the Lucasfilm-backed adventure franchise. New visual effects technology played a big part in turning back the clock so that Ford could look the same age as he did when he first played Indiana Jones in the 1980s.
Ford recently told Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show” that his de-aged face is actually his real face, as Lucasfilm used artificial intelligence to comb through all of the decades-old footage the studio has of him. Ford has long been one of Lucasfilm’s biggest stars thanks to roles in “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones.” The artificial intelligence program even had access to rolls of film featuring Ford that never made it to theaters.
“They have this artificial intelligence program that can go through every foot of film that Lucasfilm owns,” Ford said. “Because I did a bunch of movies for them, they have all this footage, including film that wasn’t printed. So they can mine it from where the light is coming from, from the expression.”
“I don’t know how they do it. But that’s my actual face,” Ford continued. “Then I put little dots on my face and I say the words and they make [it]. It’s fantastic.”
Directed by James Mangold, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” takes place in 1969 and is set against the space run as Indiana Jones works to prevent the re-emergence of Nazism. The opening sequence takes place in 1944, hence the need to de-age Ford.
“My hope is that, although it will be talked about in terms of technology, you just watch it and go, ‘Oh my God, they just found footage. This was a thing they shot 40 years ago,’” producer and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy previously told Empire magazine about de-aging the star. “We’re dropping you into an adventure, something Indy is looking for, and instantly you have that feeling, ‘I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.’”
Ford told Empire that seeing himself de-aged was “a little spooky,” but he added, “This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it… I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works. It doesn’t make me want to be young, though. I’m glad to have earned my age.”
Disney will release “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in theaters nationwide on June 30, 2023.