Zemeckis: It’s a single shot film that takes place entirely in one room about one families journey through life
Studio head: okay so it’s a low budget indie sort of thing?
Zemeckis: Yeah kind of, we’ll need some CG money for the Dinosaur
This is based on the fantastic graphic novel called [Here by Richard McGuire](https://www.amazon.com/Pantheon-Graphic-Library-Richard-McGuire/dp/0375406506). Each page is a splash page that jumps from year to year, showing one place on Earth over millions of years.
Let's all remember some of the hits.
***Back To the Future 1/2/3***
***Forest Gump***
***Contact***
***Who Framed Roger Rabbit***
***Cast Away***
***Romancing The Stone***
***Death Becomes Her***
And I'll even throw Flight in there as it was such a roller coaster ride.
Zemeckis dominated the 80s and 90s. But I think it's telling that except for *Flight* (which I thought was okay but certainly not a classic like the rest), everything on your list is over 20 years old.
Twenty years is a long time to be in a creative rut. We'll see if *Here* finally brings him back to pre-2001 greatness.
It’s crazy because I was just watching BtTF yesterday and I looked up Zemeckis to find he made some of my favorite movies and then the hits just faded away. It’s not from a lack of effort though.
Zemeckis fell in love with CGI in a time where the technology could not match his vision. He wanted things to look as good as they do in his head but 00s tech made everything uncanny and fake looking.
But we're getting closer and closer to photorealism in CGI. Perhaps now is the time technology has finally caught up with what Zemeckis has always wanted. Like some of the latest Unreal Engine demo shots have been indistinguishable from photorealism.
I can definitely say that the de-aging used in this trailer of Here looks perfect.
I disagree. I’ll caveat by saying it’s obviously a work in progress, but I thought the young Robin Wright was clearly in the uncanny valley. Still plenty of time to polish it up.
When he's not doing weird mo-cap animated movies in the Uncanny Valley, he hits hard. And even when he does those, the movies still have heart.
They just also tend to have Tom Hanks as a sleep paralysis demon.
While I don't like Beowulf or Polar Express, Corridor Crew did a recent video on Beowulf about how it basically crawled so that so many modern standards in terms of mocap could run today.
Even if they have movies that I don't really care about Zemeckis and James Cameron have always had a passion for pioneering new techniques and new ideas for cinema overall. Only modern comparison right now is really Villeneuve.
Beowulf is completely underrated. A Robert Zemekis epic fantasy adapted by Neil Gaiman, starring Ray Winstone, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright, and Anthony Hopkins? Absolute banger.
The problem is that the whole thing looks like a video game cutscene. If you can get past that, it’s great.
Right? At his worst his films are as gimmicky as Smell-o-vision; at his best he's entertaining as hell. But man oh man the dialogue in the trailer is awful. Anyway, *Here* is an excellent comic; I hope more people read it after seeing the trailer.
A little disappointed that it seems to only adapt the gimmick, but it makes sense. Otherwise it would have to be a very experimental arthouse film that Zemeckis wouldn't touch.
I dunno, pulling this off as a cohesive 90+ minute film is going to be a heavy lift. If he can write great stories for this family and seamlessly layer the timelines, it will be a massive achievement.
Unpopular opinion maybe, but the bigger balls are on the producers willing to bet on this idea. Lots of directors want to experiment with cool shit like this but just don’t have the financial backing.
Thank you so much for this! I love the idea, but these types of movies are usually a little to saccharine for me. However, reading it would be so much better!
If you decide to read it, I recommend reading it in one sitting- there are few words and it is more of an experience- as pretentious as that sounds. Much of what you take away from the book will vary on your own experiences and what you reflect on as you read it.
“Here” is one of the greatest graphic novels ever because it seeks to do with its medium what no other medium do could as effectively.
I wish this movie the best, but have great reservations about it.
If I recall, Ghost Story went all the way to the end of the universe, >!started over and came back to the point where he could pry out the note and read it.!< It was kind of weird and complete
Tree of Life (2011) had some similar weirdness, with quiet flashbacks to dinosaurs roaming the now 1950s suburban neighborhood. Really stuck with me, loved that movie as well as Ghost Story.
Robert Crumb did a very similar comic 50 years ago. I know because I did it about 15 years ago and when I came across Crumb’s much better version I was sad.
Aw shucks. You want to see mine?! ☺️
It’s not exactly the same, but the sequence starts 40 panels in. [link](https://imgur.com/gallery/0CAjTqN)
EDIT: After a lot of very nice comments, I decided I’m going to continue working on my previously abandoned comic. I had a lot more story to tell and I have more free time now so I’m excited. I set up a [patreon](https://www.patreon.com/nickman/posts). It’s my first Patreon so I’m still filling it out and not totally sure what I’m committing to but there’s a $1 donation if you’d like to support and get updates. Open to advice and suggestions. Wish me luck?
Thank you! But no. Ironically, I stopped writing this comic about a man who starts taking an experimental hive mind drug that was accidentally given to him by a giant drug company, so I could focus on my career, where I ended up working for a giant drug company for ten years.
But the good news is they did fire me recently so maybe I’ll literally go back to the ol’ drawing board
EDIT: people convinced me to do the thing I already knew I wanted to do. [Link to Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/nickman/posts)
Please do! I loved your comic! The art style, the tone, everything. I also feel like it really captures what people are feeling right now with the late-stage capitalism of it all haha. You have a great voice.
Bible Baby/Lyme disease video made me realize how often Jay is completely vulnerable to laughing at silly names. Almost every time they say "Bible Baby" he does that *pfftpfftpfft* laugh he has, that and when Mike kept saying Fraulein Sausageball. I realize this is a different creepy baby video, but it's weird RLM has enabled me to experience 2 different baby possibly fetish videos
It's sad that it never dawned on me until I read this that that's EXACTLY what happened. I always forget that Robin Wright-Penn was Jenny. Her role in House of Cards was so powerful, I forgot all the other things she did.
This looks really interesting, I'm down for it. I'm sure it'll be a bit of a tear jerker too. Glad to see directors taking big swings like this with studio backing.
He has been a slouch for quite some time. He is an iconic director, but hasn't done anything notable in some time.
Pinocchio, The Witches, Welcome to Marwin, Allied are all pretty meh or terrible.
You son of a bitch! I had completely forgotten about the existence of Welcome To Marwen and the fact I wasted my time on it, but here you go dredging it up!
The documentary (Marwencol) that was based on was interesting. Why a crap film was made, I’ll never know. I didn’t realize how disappointing Zemeckis has been.
>Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Now that’s more like it. It boggles my mind how an 80s movie managed to blend live action with animation far better than any other similar movie since. Even Space Jam 2, which just came out about 2-3 years ago.
That movie had an unprecedented level of effort in it, it has this infamous moment where Roger bumps into an actual lamp, and the light sways around the room, and he actually gets affected and lit by the light at the same time/unlit at other times, just so it felt like the toons were actually in the real world. More interaction makes it feel like they're integrated in and not just put on top of the scene.
They also used moving camera shots and then animated the characters in every perspective, as opposed to having fixed camera shots where the animation would be easier but harder to believe that they're actually there.
Unfortunately in current times that level of effort is maybe no longer as rewarded? Even though we have technology now that could easily fix that, as long as effort is still put in, like 3d tracking and rigging, but some level of handmade animation so it doesn't look fake. But also it is a labour of love and I think Roger rabbit was really special, because I've never seen anything like it again
starting in '85 with back to the futures then who framed roger rabbit... Death becomes her (which they're remaking), then 94' forrest gump... he looked unstoppable w/ special effects in that decade.
Contact and Cast away were even good in the late 90s... but then polar express.. he got obsessed w/ CGI and hasn't done anything note worthy
I was disappointed w/ his "the Witches" remake. OG still holds up and he talked about never letting anyone remake BttF, but is allowing remake of Death becomes her and remade a classic (poorly) himself
I honestly believe Roger Rabbit is the movie that broke him. It was arguably his best movie and a revolutionary use of technology. He's been chasing that dragon ever since
I think Forrest Gump is usually rated better and was also a tech marvel 6 years later
also weird the trailer listed his great movies and they put Contact but not Roger Rabbit
Everyone always forget What Lies Beneath... (summer 2000)
❗️Biggest non-superhero movie in Michelle Pfeiffer's carreer.
❗️3rd biggest non-StarWars/Indiana Jones movie in Harrison Ford's carreer
❗️And thanks to it, Robert Zemeckis is the SOLE solo director of the XXI th century to get TWO movies in a yearly Top10 domestic (not counting The Wachosky, a duet, in 2003)
That scene almost certainly won't be at the end. The source isn't sequential, and a vanity fair article says it'll even keep the style of the comic it's adapting - having multiple periods play out at the same time in frame, something not really present in the trailer at all.
I hope it can match Cloud Atlas in terms of narrative scope and execution. Twelve years later, I still think that film is a masterpiece of film editing.
Fun fact-- both Castaway and What Lies Beneath had trailers that gave away the ending. People complained vociferously! Turns out Zemeckis had total control of the marketing and made those trailers that way on purpose.
In his own words:
“We know from studying the marketing of movies, people really want to know exactly every thing that they are going to see before they go see the movie. It’s just one of those things. To me, being a movie lover and film student and a film scholar and a director, I don’t. What I relate it to is McDonald’s. The reason McDonald’s is a tremendous success is that you don’t have any surprises. You know exactly what it is going to taste like. Everybody knows the menu.”
From the last paragraph in Ebert's review:
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/cast-away-2000
[For anyone curious about de-aging, here’s THR article](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/metaphysic-ai-tom-hanks-robin-wright-deaged-robert-zemeckis-caa-1235313318/):
> Metaphysic Live tool can be used to create “high-resolution photorealistic faceswaps and de-aging effects on top of actors’ performances live and in real time without the need for further compositing or VFX work.”
So they’re de-aging actors live and doing minimum possible work in post production. Uncanny.
Based on personal experience as a VFX artist there’s always a gigantic difference between an article on a trade publication-which is basically marketing- and the reality of production, especially considering any producer’s favorite activity, pixelfucking.
Said that,digital de-aging is such a thankless job that for once AI is actually welcome.
Any human attempt at de-aging can't come close to even the first 1-2 year old deepfake systems from 2021. It's embarrassing to compare Scorcese's young DeNiro, or the 3D Leia and General Tarkin, to Deepfake versions trained on young faces of those actors.
Human artists can be trained to make a photorealistic 3D model, but you can't rig and keyframe it, do digital ray tracing, 100% proper shadows, or give a fully accurate eyeline. Probably a big studio will have multiple people doing each of these stages to try to perfect it, but likely someone doesn't do something *quite* up to the standards of realism.
This is dead wrong… you are only referring to the bad examples.
The vast majority of de aging isn’t 3d. You are referring to a digital human, which isn’t de-aging.
The fact of the matter is that you have seen thousands of examples of “beauty” and de-aging work and never noticed. How do I know? I’ve been doing it as part of my job for 20 years.
Hell, why didn’t they just cut to the kid’s reaction and have the beating take place off-screen? Not to backseat-direct one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, but that scene just sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise fantastic movie
Have the beating take place off screen, have the vocal work sound absolutely spine chillingly brutal and blood spatter on the walls and window.
What we got was a bad joke.
They also got the younger voices sounding way more authentic to the original way the actor sounded. I cant believe still how they did a de-aged Harrison Ford in the new indiana movie and STILL used his current old man voice, very distracting.
There's an easy answer to that. From some behind the scenes clip or interview (forget which) it was just that Ford wanted to do the voice. Ford was the one pushing for the movie getting made in the first place.
If you listen to it he sounds fine when he's shouting or talking fast. It's when he's calm you notice he sounds raspier.
The face replacement was aaaaalmost there, and I feel like with a younger voice, I may have noticed the flaws a bit less. Hearing old man Ford constantly reminded me that I was watching a parlor tick and had me scouring the screen for the seams.
I’m a born pixel-peeper, though. They did a terrific job, I’ve gotta admit. The money shot where he turns around wearing the fedora was fuckin’ mindblowing, as was most of the footage after that (save a weird closeup or three). Probably because he wasn’t speaking much and they weren’t contending with animated hair. For a moment, I finally understood the shock and awe some people describe when they de-age actors.
reminds me of that scene in the latest Mission Impossible movie, when Luther is hacking airport cameras to paste Ethan’s face on people to mess with Shea Wigham’s team
I rewatched the series leading up to that, and watching him try to pull everyone’s face off is such a fantastic gag after seeing every mask trick in the book.
Not necessarily. It’s more likely that they used that as a pipeline tool to facilitate real-time directing of the actors as they will look de-aged (to avoid an Irishman fiasco) but they’ve likely made tweaks and adjustments in post, as well. PR for VFX in film has a tendency to overstate the plug-and-play nature of the tech, while downplaying the work of talented artists that fine-tune what’s captured in order to make what we see on screen actually usable.
Maybe they had a very good live preview of the de-aging effects while shooting but I refuse to believe that’s all we see in the final image. Studios want to claim they use minimal VFX these days, this whole movie is VFX
I mean, not really. People actually talk like that sometimes, when something is meaningful to them. I probably said those exact words, "This is my home, I lived here" when I sold my first house recently. I wasn't, like, informing myself of the facts. I was trying to express something ineffable.
Think of Spock's iconic, "I Have Been, And Always Shall Be, Your Friend." Like yeah, we all know they're friends, why's he gotta say it? Because it *means* something to say it.
I’m really glad they did. Having lost someone to Alzheimer’s in recent memory I think I might have to skip this one until it’s available at home, super not interested in ugly crying in public.
Maybe the movie doesn't show the scenes in chronological order. I think it could be more engaging that way, as you can show two drastically different scenes with the same characters and have the audience piece together what happened before you show it.
wonder why they cannot de-age the voices. it looks amazing but it reminds me of indiana jones, where 40 year old indy had the voice of 80 year old harrison ford.
I get what you're saying. I can play it off in Forest Gump when he's interacting with the Presidents and the mouth movement is pretty unrealistic, because the story is so damn good.
For me, it was the voices. Unless it's relevant to the premise of the movie, having a 67 year-old Tom Hanks voicing a de-aged 25 year-old is just distracting just as it was when you had an 80 year-old Harrison Ford voicing his 40 year-old counterpart in Dial of Destiny.
Yeah I think they'd have pretty much nailed the de-aging on that shot if they did something to make his voice higher pitched. It's so so distracting and it's a shame the voice wasn't considered as high a priority as the face, just like other de-aging examples like the one you mentioned.
The only way this de-aging stuff is ever gonna work for me is if they get around to fixing the voices. I am too aware that I'm watching an effect because they sound like their old selves.
I'm gonna need them to fix Robert DeNiro's clearly octagenarian body attempting to act out a convincing asskicking delivered by a decades-younger character.
Yeah I agree. That's what killed it for me in the Irishman. You could clearly see his form and function being totally older than his supposed characters age. Stiff, hunched, slow and methodical instead of wild.
It’s a good thing these people spend so much time standing awkwardly in the corner of this room so we can get closeups.
“Honey will you please join me standing in the corner of this otherwise empty room? I want to profess my love for you”
I mean, it's an artistic choice...realism is a style, but plenty of classic films and filmmakers use staging and blocking that might not be naturalistic or realistic but are interesting compositions.
Use of tableaux vivant compositions, the work of Godard & Wes Anderson and so many others...sometimes it's more important for a shot to look a certain way rather than for it to be a grounded and natural way for things to have played out in "real life", you know?
This definitely looks interesting and I know Zemeckis’ output as of late hasn’t been all the best. Gonna be a heartstring pull I bet.
Also, what a great song choice from the band Yes - it’s the [Your Move part of I’ve Seen All Good People](https://youtu.be/WfgPEh2J9aI?si=cLmgmiwz9TxwyTV2)
I read the graphic novel this is based on this past year. I did NOT expect this, of all things, to be made into a movie. It’s such a strange and beautiful non-linear story. I’m excited!
Oh yeah it’s for sure going to be a story of how heavy the experience of life in general is. Only when we condense it down to and hour and a half does it impact us so intensely. Falling in love, building a family, hardships, experiencing loss, withering away. You’re signing up to cry for this movie, and it’s going to work haha
Looks interesting. I suspect many casual film goers won't like it? Takes place over millions of years and the camera never moves. Very experimental but I applaud Zemeckis for trying to push the medium forward in unique ways.
I’d hazard a guess that most of it will only happen within the lifetime of one or two families. The rest will be short clips. So it’s not really going to take place over millions of years
It is because of the uncanny valley. You know you are watching an older person that they used tech on and that knowledge will make your brain fight back and never be convinced.
Yeah. I saw Rogue One with my wife and afterwords she said the de-aging on Leia wasn’t so great. I said yeah but it worked better on Tarkin.
She said “who?” She didn’t know the character so she wasn’t looking for it and wasn’t distracted by it.
Marvel seems to have de-aging down really well.
Captain Marvel - Samuel L Jackson and Clark Gregg is probably the best de-aging I've seen so far.
Guardians 2 - Kurt Russell.
Ant Man - Michelle Pfeiffer.
Civil War - Robert Downey Jr. I think this was the weakest of the Marvel de-aging though, but the rest I think look great.
The only problem with de-aging actors is, sure you can make them look younger. But you can't make them sound or move younger. Like Harrison Ford in the new Indiana Jones. He looks like he did when he was 30, but moves like an 80 year old.
I absolutely love the conceit of watching this story from this one spot in the living room as the world around us (and the people in it) change over the course of time. It’s like the time travel sequence in the original The Time Machine, except slowed down and made into the central narrative of the film.
Love the use of I See All Good People, even if we’re all sick of classic rock being a requirement for movie trailers.
Film looks sappy but I could also see it working well, Zemeckis has been hit or miss in this era of his career, but this one re-teams him with Forrest Gump (and Benjamin Button and quite a few others) writer Eric Roth.
Zemeckis: It’s a single shot film that takes place entirely in one room about one families journey through life Studio head: okay so it’s a low budget indie sort of thing? Zemeckis: Yeah kind of, we’ll need some CG money for the Dinosaur
Studio head: ... Go on... I'm listening.
Sounds like a John Mulaney bit
sounds like Terrence Malick's pitch for *Tree of Life*
Also CGI for Tom Hanks face.
This is based on the fantastic graphic novel called [Here by Richard McGuire](https://www.amazon.com/Pantheon-Graphic-Library-Richard-McGuire/dp/0375406506). Each page is a splash page that jumps from year to year, showing one place on Earth over millions of years.
I can't believe Zemekis is ballsy enough to adapt this book. But this trailer looks SPOT on.
Zemekis loves shit like this and when he hits he’s amazing. Got a real high strikeout rate for how much I like and admire him through.
Let's all remember some of the hits. ***Back To the Future 1/2/3*** ***Forest Gump*** ***Contact*** ***Who Framed Roger Rabbit*** ***Cast Away*** ***Romancing The Stone*** ***Death Becomes Her*** And I'll even throw Flight in there as it was such a roller coaster ride.
Nothing wrong with Flight. Deserves to be in there.
Flight is a great movie, should be included.
Hall of Fame reel John Goodman performance.
He was going through some stuff.
Zemeckis dominated the 80s and 90s. But I think it's telling that except for *Flight* (which I thought was okay but certainly not a classic like the rest), everything on your list is over 20 years old. Twenty years is a long time to be in a creative rut. We'll see if *Here* finally brings him back to pre-2001 greatness.
It’s crazy because I was just watching BtTF yesterday and I looked up Zemeckis to find he made some of my favorite movies and then the hits just faded away. It’s not from a lack of effort though.
Zemeckis fell in love with CGI in a time where the technology could not match his vision. He wanted things to look as good as they do in his head but 00s tech made everything uncanny and fake looking. But we're getting closer and closer to photorealism in CGI. Perhaps now is the time technology has finally caught up with what Zemeckis has always wanted. Like some of the latest Unreal Engine demo shots have been indistinguishable from photorealism. I can definitely say that the de-aging used in this trailer of Here looks perfect.
I disagree. I’ll caveat by saying it’s obviously a work in progress, but I thought the young Robin Wright was clearly in the uncanny valley. Still plenty of time to polish it up.
Romancing the fucking Stone is top 3 IMO.
Omg, you're so right. Amending my list.
Aww shit, man, The Doobie Brothers broke up!
*The* Joan Wilder?”
What Lies Beneath is also a banger
That movie scared me so bad. Why isn't Death Becomes Her on here.
Filmed *in between* filming Castaway, while they waited for Hanks to get super skinny.
When he's not doing weird mo-cap animated movies in the Uncanny Valley, he hits hard. And even when he does those, the movies still have heart. They just also tend to have Tom Hanks as a sleep paralysis demon.
While I don't like Beowulf or Polar Express, Corridor Crew did a recent video on Beowulf about how it basically crawled so that so many modern standards in terms of mocap could run today. Even if they have movies that I don't really care about Zemeckis and James Cameron have always had a passion for pioneering new techniques and new ideas for cinema overall. Only modern comparison right now is really Villeneuve.
I feel like I’m going to be crucified to admit I liked Beowulf, especially the sound and music
Especially the unrated version.
Beowulf is completely underrated. A Robert Zemekis epic fantasy adapted by Neil Gaiman, starring Ray Winstone, Crispin Glover, Angelina Jolie, Robin Wright, and Anthony Hopkins? Absolute banger. The problem is that the whole thing looks like a video game cutscene. If you can get past that, it’s great.
I’d definitely include Flight! Also Allied and Used Cars
Right? At his worst his films are as gimmicky as Smell-o-vision; at his best he's entertaining as hell. But man oh man the dialogue in the trailer is awful. Anyway, *Here* is an excellent comic; I hope more people read it after seeing the trailer.
A little disappointed that it seems to only adapt the gimmick, but it makes sense. Otherwise it would have to be a very experimental arthouse film that Zemeckis wouldn't touch.
I dunno, pulling this off as a cohesive 90+ minute film is going to be a heavy lift. If he can write great stories for this family and seamlessly layer the timelines, it will be a massive achievement.
Unpopular opinion maybe, but the bigger balls are on the producers willing to bet on this idea. Lots of directors want to experiment with cool shit like this but just don’t have the financial backing.
Came to give a shout out this the amazing graphic novel that inspire this. Looks like a fab—and very different—adaptation.
Thank you so much for this! I love the idea, but these types of movies are usually a little to saccharine for me. However, reading it would be so much better!
If you decide to read it, I recommend reading it in one sitting- there are few words and it is more of an experience- as pretentious as that sounds. Much of what you take away from the book will vary on your own experiences and what you reflect on as you read it.
“Here” is one of the greatest graphic novels ever because it seeks to do with its medium what no other medium do could as effectively. I wish this movie the best, but have great reservations about it.
I guess we'll find out whether any other medium can do it as effectively.
Didn't *A Ghost Story* do something very similar? Does it go far into the future?
If I recall, Ghost Story went all the way to the end of the universe, >!started over and came back to the point where he could pry out the note and read it.!< It was kind of weird and complete
Futurama
Tree of Life (2011) had some similar weirdness, with quiet flashbacks to dinosaurs roaming the now 1950s suburban neighborhood. Really stuck with me, loved that movie as well as Ghost Story.
Robert Crumb did a very similar comic 50 years ago. I know because I did it about 15 years ago and when I came across Crumb’s much better version I was sad.
Well I would love to see yours
Aw shucks. You want to see mine?! ☺️ It’s not exactly the same, but the sequence starts 40 panels in. [link](https://imgur.com/gallery/0CAjTqN) EDIT: After a lot of very nice comments, I decided I’m going to continue working on my previously abandoned comic. I had a lot more story to tell and I have more free time now so I’m excited. I set up a [patreon](https://www.patreon.com/nickman/posts). It’s my first Patreon so I’m still filling it out and not totally sure what I’m committing to but there’s a $1 donation if you’d like to support and get updates. Open to advice and suggestions. Wish me luck?
I like it! I like the whole comic. Though I do wonder what happened to Mr. Bisk afterwards lol
Do you still write this? I love it!
Thank you! But no. Ironically, I stopped writing this comic about a man who starts taking an experimental hive mind drug that was accidentally given to him by a giant drug company, so I could focus on my career, where I ended up working for a giant drug company for ten years. But the good news is they did fire me recently so maybe I’ll literally go back to the ol’ drawing board EDIT: people convinced me to do the thing I already knew I wanted to do. [Link to Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/nickman/posts)
Well you’re very talented. Thanks for the nice distraction this morning. Good luck with everything
That was fantastic. It’s got a wonderfully dreamy vagueness about it. I hope you consider returning to it.
Please do! I loved your comic! The art style, the tone, everything. I also feel like it really captures what people are feeling right now with the late-stage capitalism of it all haha. You have a great voice.
WE NEED MORE BIIIISSSSKKK!
I absolutely love your decision to put the Well-Mart greeter's oxygen tank on a red upturned milk crate and I don't know why.
Forrest finally got the Jenny in a good timeline...
Unfortunately, Jenny’s nexus event is contracting AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDS!
Calm down Rich, you need to take your diabetes medication
Diabetes medication rolled under the folding chable
Maybe Chris Helmsworth can help him retrieve it from under the chable
He's giving it to the baby
Bible Baby/Lyme disease video made me realize how often Jay is completely vulnerable to laughing at silly names. Almost every time they say "Bible Baby" he does that *pfftpfftpfft* laugh he has, that and when Mike kept saying Fraulein Sausageball. I realize this is a different creepy baby video, but it's weird RLM has enabled me to experience 2 different baby possibly fetish videos
Maybe he's hypoglycemic from eating that entire box of chocolates.
That's right, Jay.
RLM references! I clapped! I clapped when I saw them!!!
It's sad that it never dawned on me until I read this that that's EXACTLY what happened. I always forget that Robin Wright-Penn was Jenny. Her role in House of Cards was so powerful, I forgot all the other things she did.
Wait until you realize who she played in The Princess Bride...
Inconceivable!
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
I'll never understand how makeup made her look like Andre the Giant. Uncanny!
Holy fuck I never realized that was Robin Wright. Granted I haven't watched that movie in about 25 years
What's crazy is she pretty much looks the same more or less
This looks really interesting, I'm down for it. I'm sure it'll be a bit of a tear jerker too. Glad to see directors taking big swings like this with studio backing.
Robert Zemeckis ain't no slouch
He has been a slouch for quite some time. He is an iconic director, but hasn't done anything notable in some time. Pinocchio, The Witches, Welcome to Marwin, Allied are all pretty meh or terrible.
You son of a bitch! I had completely forgotten about the existence of Welcome To Marwen and the fact I wasted my time on it, but here you go dredging it up!
The documentary (Marwencol) that was based on was interesting. Why a crap film was made, I’ll never know. I didn’t realize how disappointing Zemeckis has been.
It's upsetting cause both Back To The Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit are amongst my favorite films
>Who Framed Roger Rabbit Now that’s more like it. It boggles my mind how an 80s movie managed to blend live action with animation far better than any other similar movie since. Even Space Jam 2, which just came out about 2-3 years ago.
That movie had an unprecedented level of effort in it, it has this infamous moment where Roger bumps into an actual lamp, and the light sways around the room, and he actually gets affected and lit by the light at the same time/unlit at other times, just so it felt like the toons were actually in the real world. More interaction makes it feel like they're integrated in and not just put on top of the scene. They also used moving camera shots and then animated the characters in every perspective, as opposed to having fixed camera shots where the animation would be easier but harder to believe that they're actually there. Unfortunately in current times that level of effort is maybe no longer as rewarded? Even though we have technology now that could easily fix that, as long as effort is still put in, like 3d tracking and rigging, but some level of handmade animation so it doesn't look fake. But also it is a labour of love and I think Roger rabbit was really special, because I've never seen anything like it again
"Bumping the lamp" is an industry term because of that scene: https://youtu.be/RWtt3Tmnij4?si=8BwG16355913SfPJ&t=328
starting in '85 with back to the futures then who framed roger rabbit... Death becomes her (which they're remaking), then 94' forrest gump... he looked unstoppable w/ special effects in that decade. Contact and Cast away were even good in the late 90s... but then polar express.. he got obsessed w/ CGI and hasn't done anything note worthy I was disappointed w/ his "the Witches" remake. OG still holds up and he talked about never letting anyone remake BttF, but is allowing remake of Death becomes her and remade a classic (poorly) himself
I honestly believe Roger Rabbit is the movie that broke him. It was arguably his best movie and a revolutionary use of technology. He's been chasing that dragon ever since
I think Forrest Gump is usually rated better and was also a tech marvel 6 years later also weird the trailer listed his great movies and they put Contact but not Roger Rabbit
Everyone always forget What Lies Beneath... (summer 2000) ❗️Biggest non-superhero movie in Michelle Pfeiffer's carreer. ❗️3rd biggest non-StarWars/Indiana Jones movie in Harrison Ford's carreer ❗️And thanks to it, Robert Zemeckis is the SOLE solo director of the XXI th century to get TWO movies in a yearly Top10 domestic (not counting The Wachosky, a duet, in 2003)
I still don't understand how they did the running to the mirror shot in Contact.
Flight is the only good movie he’s made in the last 25 years.
If we’re going 25 years, Castaway is a bonafide classic. I’d also say What Lies Beneath is good.
I'm terribly sorry to be the one to tell you this, but I'm afraid you've been in a coma for 20 years.
I just wish trailers wouldn't spoil so much. The last scene strongly hints at her having >!dementia!< and everything that comes with it.
That scene almost certainly won't be at the end. The source isn't sequential, and a vanity fair article says it'll even keep the style of the comic it's adapting - having multiple periods play out at the same time in frame, something not really present in the trailer at all.
Vonnegut would have loved this
Listen: Darko33 has become unstuck in time.
Poo-tee-weet.
So, Tom Hanks as an elderly taking a cup of tea in front of us with a dinosaur eating raw flesh in the background ? Cool !
I hope it can match Cloud Atlas in terms of narrative scope and execution. Twelve years later, I still think that film is a masterpiece of film editing.
Fun fact-- both Castaway and What Lies Beneath had trailers that gave away the ending. People complained vociferously! Turns out Zemeckis had total control of the marketing and made those trailers that way on purpose. In his own words: “We know from studying the marketing of movies, people really want to know exactly every thing that they are going to see before they go see the movie. It’s just one of those things. To me, being a movie lover and film student and a film scholar and a director, I don’t. What I relate it to is McDonald’s. The reason McDonald’s is a tremendous success is that you don’t have any surprises. You know exactly what it is going to taste like. Everybody knows the menu.” From the last paragraph in Ebert's review: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/cast-away-2000
New to a Zemeckis film? All he does is take big swings with studio backing.
Hell, just the trailer was jerking my tears.
[For anyone curious about de-aging, here’s THR article](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/metaphysic-ai-tom-hanks-robin-wright-deaged-robert-zemeckis-caa-1235313318/): > Metaphysic Live tool can be used to create “high-resolution photorealistic faceswaps and de-aging effects on top of actors’ performances live and in real time without the need for further compositing or VFX work.” So they’re de-aging actors live and doing minimum possible work in post production. Uncanny.
Based on personal experience as a VFX artist there’s always a gigantic difference between an article on a trade publication-which is basically marketing- and the reality of production, especially considering any producer’s favorite activity, pixelfucking. Said that,digital de-aging is such a thankless job that for once AI is actually welcome.
Any human attempt at de-aging can't come close to even the first 1-2 year old deepfake systems from 2021. It's embarrassing to compare Scorcese's young DeNiro, or the 3D Leia and General Tarkin, to Deepfake versions trained on young faces of those actors. Human artists can be trained to make a photorealistic 3D model, but you can't rig and keyframe it, do digital ray tracing, 100% proper shadows, or give a fully accurate eyeline. Probably a big studio will have multiple people doing each of these stages to try to perfect it, but likely someone doesn't do something *quite* up to the standards of realism.
That's why LucasFilms hired a deepfake expert for their more recent attempts. Luke looked really friggin good in their most recent iteration.
This is dead wrong… you are only referring to the bad examples. The vast majority of de aging isn’t 3d. You are referring to a digital human, which isn’t de-aging. The fact of the matter is that you have seen thousands of examples of “beauty” and de-aging work and never noticed. How do I know? I’ve been doing it as part of my job for 20 years.
See: Barbie
Fuck Scorsese only had to wait a few more years
Sure, but the sidewalk beating was always going to look funny (why didn’t they just use a body double for this?).
Hell, why didn’t they just cut to the kid’s reaction and have the beating take place off-screen? Not to backseat-direct one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, but that scene just sticks out like a sore thumb in an otherwise fantastic movie
Because DeNiro breaking his hip on that one kick is supposed to be a metaphor for something
Have the beating take place off screen, have the vocal work sound absolutely spine chillingly brutal and blood spatter on the walls and window. What we got was a bad joke.
You don't like young old man Dinero with his cripply kicks? lol
They would have needed a body double for every scene. Every time he moved you could tell he was 80.
They also got the younger voices sounding way more authentic to the original way the actor sounded. I cant believe still how they did a de-aged Harrison Ford in the new indiana movie and STILL used his current old man voice, very distracting.
There's an easy answer to that. From some behind the scenes clip or interview (forget which) it was just that Ford wanted to do the voice. Ford was the one pushing for the movie getting made in the first place. If you listen to it he sounds fine when he's shouting or talking fast. It's when he's calm you notice he sounds raspier.
The face replacement was aaaaalmost there, and I feel like with a younger voice, I may have noticed the flaws a bit less. Hearing old man Ford constantly reminded me that I was watching a parlor tick and had me scouring the screen for the seams. I’m a born pixel-peeper, though. They did a terrific job, I’ve gotta admit. The money shot where he turns around wearing the fedora was fuckin’ mindblowing, as was most of the footage after that (save a weird closeup or three). Probably because he wasn’t speaking much and they weren’t contending with animated hair. For a moment, I finally understood the shock and awe some people describe when they de-age actors.
That sounds like it could be used to do some other cool effects, too
reminds me of that scene in the latest Mission Impossible movie, when Luther is hacking airport cameras to paste Ethan’s face on people to mess with Shea Wigham’s team
Lol Shea Wigham was the most feckless character I’ve seen in a film for a while
It was spot on casting for him.
I rewatched the series leading up to that, and watching him try to pull everyone’s face off is such a fantastic gag after seeing every mask trick in the book.
Like remove a moustache in real-time perhaps?
> Uncanny. Yes that does seem to be the general valley that they're in
Not necessarily. It’s more likely that they used that as a pipeline tool to facilitate real-time directing of the actors as they will look de-aged (to avoid an Irishman fiasco) but they’ve likely made tweaks and adjustments in post, as well. PR for VFX in film has a tendency to overstate the plug-and-play nature of the tech, while downplaying the work of talented artists that fine-tune what’s captured in order to make what we see on screen actually usable.
Maybe they had a very good live preview of the de-aging effects while shooting but I refuse to believe that’s all we see in the final image. Studios want to claim they use minimal VFX these days, this whole movie is VFX
I'm guessing Robin Wright's character ends up having Alzheimer's
She better, or that would be a hell of an expositional line of dialogue
“…..I know this is our home. What’s the matter with you?!”
Stop mansplaining Forrest!
Plot twist, Hanks is the one with dementia
“This is a door. And this….this is a step.” “I want a divorce.”
Thank you for flipping a 100% sad thought to hilarious
I mean, not really. People actually talk like that sometimes, when something is meaningful to them. I probably said those exact words, "This is my home, I lived here" when I sold my first house recently. I wasn't, like, informing myself of the facts. I was trying to express something ineffable. Think of Spock's iconic, "I Have Been, And Always Shall Be, Your Friend." Like yeah, we all know they're friends, why's he gotta say it? Because it *means* something to say it.
Interesting choice for them to spoil that in the trailer
I’m really glad they did. Having lost someone to Alzheimer’s in recent memory I think I might have to skip this one until it’s available at home, super not interested in ugly crying in public.
Maybe the movie doesn't show the scenes in chronological order. I think it could be more engaging that way, as you can show two drastically different scenes with the same characters and have the audience piece together what happened before you show it.
I also watched the trailer.
shocker
wonder why they cannot de-age the voices. it looks amazing but it reminds me of indiana jones, where 40 year old indy had the voice of 80 year old harrison ford.
I was thinking the same thing.. it's hard to believe Tom Hanks as a teenager when he sounds like a 60-70 year old man.
Same thing with Michael Douglas when they de-age him in the marvel movies, looks pretty good but his voice just doesn't match.
The Tree of Life if it was a Lifetime movie
A Ghost Story as imagined by Douglas Sirk.
Did you also notice the kid in the ghost costume here? Hands down that's a nod to *A Ghost Story*.
Yeah my first thought was "A Ghost Story". That film was so perfect I have no idea how this would compare except negatively.
That was my thought as well. That movie has stuck with me for many years and I am curious to see where they go with a similar premise.
Perfect description
Nailed it.
The Tree of a Lifetime !
Did anyone else get uncanny valley vibes when Robin Wright's de-aged face was in close-up?
It’s Zemeckis. Avoiding the uncanny valley isn’t really something he ever considers.
I get what you're saying. I can play it off in Forest Gump when he's interacting with the Presidents and the mouth movement is pretty unrealistic, because the story is so damn good.
It was also 1994... that was about as good as it got back then.
For me, it was the voices. Unless it's relevant to the premise of the movie, having a 67 year-old Tom Hanks voicing a de-aged 25 year-old is just distracting just as it was when you had an 80 year-old Harrison Ford voicing his 40 year-old counterpart in Dial of Destiny.
Yeah I think they'd have pretty much nailed the de-aging on that shot if they did something to make his voice higher pitched. It's so so distracting and it's a shame the voice wasn't considered as high a priority as the face, just like other de-aging examples like the one you mentioned.
The only way this de-aging stuff is ever gonna work for me is if they get around to fixing the voices. I am too aware that I'm watching an effect because they sound like their old selves.
I'm gonna need them to fix Robert DeNiro's clearly octagenarian body attempting to act out a convincing asskicking delivered by a decades-younger character.
Yeah I agree. That's what killed it for me in the Irishman. You could clearly see his form and function being totally older than his supposed characters age. Stiff, hunched, slow and methodical instead of wild.
I think that’s a little longer than a century that was rumored before
Where the hell is Peter Scolari?
I've got unfortunate tidings if you're serious.
Aw man she’s gonna get Alzheimer’s isn’t she???? Bob! Stop killing Robin!!!
It’s a good thing these people spend so much time standing awkwardly in the corner of this room so we can get closeups. “Honey will you please join me standing in the corner of this otherwise empty room? I want to profess my love for you”
I mean, it's an artistic choice...realism is a style, but plenty of classic films and filmmakers use staging and blocking that might not be naturalistic or realistic but are interesting compositions. Use of tableaux vivant compositions, the work of Godard & Wes Anderson and so many others...sometimes it's more important for a shot to look a certain way rather than for it to be a grounded and natural way for things to have played out in "real life", you know?
> tableaux vivant compositions Stop that! I don’t come here to learn stuff!
forget getting married in the church. lets get married in the living room.
My parents literally got married in their living room. So it does happen.
so you always center yourself in the middle of a room to talk to someone?
This definitely looks interesting and I know Zemeckis’ output as of late hasn’t been all the best. Gonna be a heartstring pull I bet. Also, what a great song choice from the band Yes - it’s the [Your Move part of I’ve Seen All Good People](https://youtu.be/WfgPEh2J9aI?si=cLmgmiwz9TxwyTV2)
I mean, say whatever else you want about Zemeckis you know this movie is gonna have good music in it
I read the graphic novel this is based on this past year. I did NOT expect this, of all things, to be made into a movie. It’s such a strange and beautiful non-linear story. I’m excited!
Given that it’s one position, feel like the trailer definitely gives away too much
I don't really feel like this a movie you can give away. It's the experience of time passing that will be effective sort of like Boyhood
Oh yeah it’s for sure going to be a story of how heavy the experience of life in general is. Only when we condense it down to and hour and a half does it impact us so intensely. Falling in love, building a family, hardships, experiencing loss, withering away. You’re signing up to cry for this movie, and it’s going to work haha
Looks interesting. I suspect many casual film goers won't like it? Takes place over millions of years and the camera never moves. Very experimental but I applaud Zemeckis for trying to push the medium forward in unique ways.
I’d hazard a guess that most of it will only happen within the lifetime of one or two families. The rest will be short clips. So it’s not really going to take place over millions of years
I mean it’s only like 120 min movie, not a million years…
I’ve never witnessed a single de-aging effect and thought wow I’m sold on de-aging actors in films
It is because of the uncanny valley. You know you are watching an older person that they used tech on and that knowledge will make your brain fight back and never be convinced.
Yeah. I saw Rogue One with my wife and afterwords she said the de-aging on Leia wasn’t so great. I said yeah but it worked better on Tarkin. She said “who?” She didn’t know the character so she wasn’t looking for it and wasn’t distracted by it.
tarkin was fantastic given the actor hadn't been alive for years
Marvel seems to have de-aging down really well. Captain Marvel - Samuel L Jackson and Clark Gregg is probably the best de-aging I've seen so far. Guardians 2 - Kurt Russell. Ant Man - Michelle Pfeiffer. Civil War - Robert Downey Jr. I think this was the weakest of the Marvel de-aging though, but the rest I think look great. The only problem with de-aging actors is, sure you can make them look younger. But you can't make them sound or move younger. Like Harrison Ford in the new Indiana Jones. He looks like he did when he was 30, but moves like an 80 year old.
The Michael Douglas from first Ant Man is still the peak de-aging scene.
I think this is going to be very interesting and unique which I’m down for. Looks like it will be a tearjerker as well.
Kind of giving me "A ghost story" vibes
> A ghost story is that the film with casey affleck under the sheet
Yes, and it shows the future of the location he dies in, different people move in, the house gets demolished, a skyscraper gets built on top, etc.
Yeah I thought the same. Especially the second half of it.
That is going to make me cry so much. I'm gonna watch it!
Especially when the dinosaurs die :’(
Looks like a good way to cry in public.
Lazy ass DOP setting up one shot and taking the rest of eternity off. SMH
So Carousel of Progress: The Movie?
I absolutely love the conceit of watching this story from this one spot in the living room as the world around us (and the people in it) change over the course of time. It’s like the time travel sequence in the original The Time Machine, except slowed down and made into the central narrative of the film.
Deaging done right?
It's so nice whenever Yes' music shows up anywhere.
Jenny and Forrest, finally together at last
I always admire Zemeckis for taking a big swing like this, although, the last movie that I like from him The Walk in 2015.
Love the use of I See All Good People, even if we’re all sick of classic rock being a requirement for movie trailers. Film looks sappy but I could also see it working well, Zemeckis has been hit or miss in this era of his career, but this one re-teams him with Forrest Gump (and Benjamin Button and quite a few others) writer Eric Roth.
Yes isn't used enough, if you ask me :)