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Captain America: Civil Warwas a landmark film within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring an epic clash between Captain America and Iron Man. But amidst all these action-packed sequences and intense drama, the flashbacks took the cake.
There were flashbacks of a young Tony Stark with his deceased parents in that movie, which added a touch of nostalgia to it. It took enormous efforts and special effects to achieve this look-in-the-golden day. The head of the special effects stated that they used Robert Downey Jr.’s face from his old movies when creating his teenage face.
Turning back time: The magic of visual effects
Lola VFX was given the job to de-ageRobert Downey Jr.The company is famous for its remarkable work inThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button, where they madeBrad Pittlook younger.
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InAnt-Manthere was also a collaboration between them and Marvel as they made a younger version ofMichael Douglassuccessfully. At Lola VFX, Trent Claus served as visual effects supervisor.
It is a similar process to Photoshop that uses some similar tools, but unlike Photoshop which is done on a single image, we have 24 frames per second of footage.
He revealed in an interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, the extensive process involved in recreating a younger Downey Jr. from his time in the 1987 film,Less than Zero.
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Instead of completely replacing the actor with a digital double, this method allowed us to retain the actor’s performance and nuances.
Working with hi-tech equipment and software as well as spending sleepless nights trying out various VFX experiments enabled them to de-age the actor. The aim here was to capture the essence and expressions of the actor while making him appear younger.
The visual effects team’s attention to detail
Claus went on to address the specificities of the task, the type of focus and attention it called for. The flashback scenes impacted the storyline ofCaptain America: Civil War,so everything had to be perfect.
TheOppenheimeractor being one of the most well-known faces in Hollywood also proposed a challenge. The team had to create an image that could satisfy the expectations of fans who were familiar with the actor’s looks in his early days.
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Additionally, when working with the appearance of a well-known actor such as Robert Downey Jr., there is the added pressure of living up to the youthful appearance that audiences remember.
They had to analyze several of the actor’s movies from his younger days, and one frame of reference was finally selected. In 1987, the actor starred in a drama film,Less Than Zero,when he was just 21 years old.
In this case, we analyzed footage of Mr. Downey at the approximate age that we wanted to target, which was around the time of the film Less Than Zero [when Downey was in his early 20s].
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It was truly a magnificent outcome. The VFX employed in the flashback sequences were highly praised by viewers as they fit naturally within the overall storyline. Viewers were sent back in time to see the de-aged performance of theSherlock Holmesactor that felt realistic.
Captain America: Civil Waris currently available to watch on Disney+.
Shruti Pathak
Articles Published :286
An entertainment writer with a passion for storytelling that transcends genres, Shruti Pathak is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in English. She is also a devoted poetry enthusiast, exploring the beauty of language and emotion through verse. Obsessed with the show Friends, a self-proclaimed swiftie, and inspired by classical literature these are just some characteristics that describe the novice writer. Newly joining FandomWire as an intern writer, she hopes to share her thoughts while sharpening her writing skills on various entertainment topics.
