Ang Lee's 'Gemini Man' (Will Smith)

[terry78]

That ain't enough?

 

[Pennywise]

It’s enough for me!

 

[I Am The Knight]

Is there anything interesting about this beyond the shallow gimmick of Will Smith vs. the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

Well there's also the 120 fps gimmick and the 3D gimmick.

 

[Schlosser85]

The effects don't even look good apart from the de-aging looks okay, I guess.

The whole thing looks cheap and '90s though.

 

[Pennywise]

Love Will's video at the beginning!

 

[MOVIELORD101]

I get the feeling the two Wills are gonna team up by the end.

 

[terry78]

Or one is gonna die.

 

[Schlosser85]

They’re gonna team up to kill Clive Owen and one will die saving the other or something.

The young one seems closer with Owen so maybe he’ll realize he’s being used. The older one will die to save him, probably.

 

[I Am The Knight]

The older one will die to redeem himself so the younger one can bring hope to the world.

 

[David H.]

Twist! They’re both clones and after defeating Clive Owen together, the real mastermind is revealed: an even older Will Smith!

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

Granny Smith ?

 

[killface]

This looks like the perfect in-flight movie

 

[samsnee]

That’s high praise

 

[Da-Scribe]

I dig the 90s feel of it. Plus the digital Will has actual weight to him and the fight choreography is already better than most of the blockbusters of the last decade.

 

[Pennywise]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/gemini-man-is-attempting-a-once-thought-to-be-impossibl-1836704365

Ang Lee’s new film Gemini Man is the ultimate gamble. Not because of the story. Not because of the stars. And not because of the subject matter. It’s because it’ll ask audiences to do something they’ve never done before. To believe that a fully CGI human being is real.

Fully CG characters are nothing new. They’ve been around since 1985's Young Sherlock Holmes. But that was a stained glass window. Twenty years ago, CG made animal-like creatures such as Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace and Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. James Cameron’s Avatar took that to a new level with facial performance capture and, in recent years, that technology helped graft human features onto characters, like Professor Hulk in Avengers: Endgame or Caesar in the Planet of the Apes films. But no one has gone all the way with it and actually tried to create an exact human for an entire movie. There’s good reason, too.

“This has been a goal of visual effects for a long time,” Gemini Man VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer told a group of journalists on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles this week. “The reason that it’s hard is that every single one of us are [face] experts and that’s evolved over millions of years. The face is how we look at someone and tell that they’re lying to you or that there’s an illness and the subtleties of what tells you that are subconscious. So, for us to go in and try to recreate that digitally is really hard and takes all the science, and the great performance as well, to really pull that off.”

Think about Grand Moff Tarkin and Princess Leia in Rogue One if you don’t know what he’s talking about.

“No matter how hard you imagine it is, it is still harder than you can imagine,” Lee added. “The familiarity we have [with] a human face is the most of all things we recognize.”
In Gemini Man, an assassin named Henry is being hunted down by a younger clone of himself, referred to as Junior. The script had been floating around Hollywood for decades but no one wanted to make it with two different actors. Most thought it would somehow have to be the same person for it to really work and technology hadn’t been able to pull that off until recently. That challenge excited the tech-savvy, Oscar-winning director, but he knew he couldn’t just rely on what audiences had already seen.

“It’s not de-aging,” said Smith, referring to a technique that’s become popular in recent years. “The younger character is not me. That is a 100 percent digital character. A completely recreated character. They didn’t take my image and just stretch some of the lines. It is a completely CGI character in the same way that the lions in The Lion King are CGI characters.”

But that’s not to say Junior isn’t performance-driven. On the contrary. During principal photography, Smith mainly shot the Henry side of things. That was easy. He’s playing a character that looks like he does now. Opposite Smith, in the role of Junior, was an actor named Victor Hugo (not that one) who gave Smith someone to play off of (like Orphan Black did for its entire run). Once that was done, Smith spent several weeks shooting the Junior stuff wearing a body suit and facial camera on a performance capture stage, with Hugo now standing in for Henry.
Long before any of that started, the team at Weta was already working hard on building the assets to make Junior. They started off by gathering a ton of references from when Smith was about the age Junior was. They grabbed images and footage from The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Bad Boys, Independence Day, and even some Men in Black, though they realized by that time, Smith had started aging a bit past what they were looking for. The team was glad to have all of that reference material—but, because it was so readily available, it posed another challenge: almost every single one of us knows exactly what the actor looked like in those movies. So they would have to be extra careful to nail the look, otherwise, it would be very, very obvious.

How did they do that? Well, it’s all in the details. The team at Weta built the digital Junior down to the pore level. They literally let the computer map out every single pore on Junior’s face on top of the bone structure, veins, etc. They figured out how blood flows below your face. Mimicked muscle movements. Thought about the amount of water in your eye at any given moment. All of it. It’s all in the computer and all adjustable by animators so that Junior looks exactly like Smith’s performance captured on camera by Lee and his team. Maybe even better.

As you’d expect though, that level of control and detail means time. The team at Weta has been working on Gemini Manfor almost two years. And while the film “only” has about 900 visual effects shots in the film (most big movies have well over 1,000, sometimes 2,000), the team explained that some of Lee’s shots are much, much longer than a normal movie. One shot, in particular, is an unbroken, two and a half minute take running about 14,000 frames.

“That shot, if you were to break it down to being a 2K 24 frames per second movie, is more visual effects than most movies’ run length,” said Guy Williams, Weta VFX supervisor.

Oh, right. On top of all that, Lee is making Gemini Man in 4K, 120 frames per second 3D. Most movies are 2K, 24 frames per second 2D. That means ridiculous amounts of data, which results in computers running slower, and a level of detail that doesn’t allow for mistakes. “You have to understand there is no motion blur,” said producer Jerry Bruckheimer. “When you see an action sequence in 24 frames there is motion blur. This is real. What you’re looking at is real life. And it takes you a few minutes to get into it [but], once you’re into it, it’s immersive.” In other words, for the visual effects team, “There’s nowhere to hide,” added Williams.

Whether or not Lee and his team at Weta will achieve their goal of perfectly recreating a human remains to be seen. Gemini Man is still several months away from release and work continues. But Lee does not think—if the film doessuccessfully prove creating a totally CGI human is possible—that human actors are in any real danger of becoming obsolete.

“Junior in the movie is twice as expensive as Will Smith,” said Lee. “I dare anybody to try. It’s so hard. It’s like impossible. Will Smith is easy. Tell him this and that and he’ll act. And then, when we do Junior, it’s a poor imitation of God’s work. That’s how hard it is. It’s pretty impossible.”

If they succeed, though, Gemini Mancould end up being a landmark in film history.

“The technology Ang has created and worked with all these wonderful artists is something that will be part of his legacy,” said Bruckheimer. “This is kind of a leap from going from black and white into color. That is how revolutionary this is.”

 

[scarlet-witch]

I have to laugh when I see trailers for this. When I saw Endgame on opening night, the audience was cheering for trailers too - Godzilla, Star Wars, Lion King, then when this one came one.....crickets.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Godzilla was such a great success!

 

[kguillou]

I love Will Smith and will see almost anything he’s in....but its not just me right, guys? This movie’s got “flop” written all over it. And i cant even put my finger on why, something just feels really off about this film. Could still be a fun B movie to watch.

 

[Hunter Rider]

International trailer

It's interesting that on the 20th anniversary of The Matrix, which was a groundbreaking sci-fi action film, that we have another film trying to break new ground in the genre. Personally I like what I see, Will's performance in both roles looks strong, the concept is cool and the action looks good.

In the first trailer above I wonder who the armoured guy is at the 2:13 mark.

 

[Pennywise]

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2477236/gemini-man-is-preparing-a-bold-new-action-movie-experience-for-the-fall

Between the ever-expanding home video market and the rise of countless streaming services, studios in the modern era are constantly looking for ways to get people into movie theaters. One of the most famous examples of this is the rise of 3D, but in the decade since Avatar the market for that particular artistic tool/gimmick has dwindled considerably.

Still, there is hope in the industry that the next big thing to reinvent the cinematic experience is right around the corner.

This is where high frame rate (or HFR) comes in. While most films are shot and projected at 24 frames per second – which is the minimum speed required for the human eye to comprehend fluid motion in stitched images – there has been increased experimentation in recent years by filmmakers who are curious about the aesthetic possibilities that go beyond that number.

After all, movies look very different when the brain of an audience member doesn’t have to subconsciously fill in the blanks between frames (which is something that happens every time you sit down to watch a movie). Shooting at a higher frame rate serves to eliminate the motion blur created by that particular visual phenomenon, and it makes the picture appear smoother and more fluid.


A few years back, Peter Jackson tried to bring HFR into the mainstream by making it a part of the Hobbit experience, but now Ang Lee is making an attempt of his own to take the format to the next level.



The director’s next movie, Gemini Man, is the latest big blockbuster to be shot at a higher frame rate – though Lee has taken things a bit further than his Kiwi colleague. While the second Middle-earth trilogy was filmed at 48fps, the new action movie starring Will Smith has nearly tripled that figure by shooting at 120fps, and having personally seen some footage from the feature I can tell you that it’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.



This past week I was part of a group of journalists invited to a special Gemini Man first look event at the Paramount Pictures lot in Los Angeles, and in addition to watching a panel discussion with Ang Lee, Will Smith, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer we all got to see a debut presentation of footage from the movie in its original frame rate. Three scenes in total were shown, equaling about 20 minutes, and it was honestly shocking to recognize just how different the experience really is.


As the lights in the theater went down and the scene began to play, the changed frame rate wasn’t immediately noticeable. While the photography appeared to perhaps be a bit brighter than your average modern action movie, the alteration from the norm wasn’t fully perceivable as a street level establishing shot of an apartment building cut to an overhead of Henry (Will Smith) inside lying still in bed.


Everything changed, however, when a sound caused Henry to jolt up, and I noticed the complete lack of motion blur present. Suddenly I experienced what can really only be described as the sensation of a sort of light switch click in my brain as my eyes were forced to quickly adjust to what felt like a wholly new visual presentation.


As Henry raced around the screen warning his friends (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Benedict Wong) about an impending attack by a character we later learn is a younger clone of himself, I practically had to shake my head while trying to acclimate myself.


One of the chief complaints about HFR in the past is that it can have the effect of making things look cheap, as the picture can be reminiscent of video-shot soap operas, but that wasn’t my read on Gemini Man. Instead, the chief takeaway in the moment is that it made everything appear hyperreal.

Paired with 3D, I legitimately got the sensation that I wasn’t so much looking at a screen as I was looking through a window. Minus the sheen of film, everything looks vibrant and deep, and even certain elements – most noticeably explosions – had a completely different look than what we typically see in blockbusters.


It added a particular visceral quality to the action as foot chases and shootouts played out on screen.

It was a fascinating preview overall, but one that also suggests that Gemini Man may have some unique issues when audiences get to see it in the fall. The first is the way in which the high frame rate interacts with the advanced visual effects used to create Will Smith’s younger self – who is named Junior in the movie.

There are particular extra demands that the presentation requires from the digital artistry used to bring Junior to life, and the way in which HFR highlights detail in cinematography could perhaps ultimately be a bit too high a hurdle (there were some occasional moments where he looked a bit more like a video game character than perfectly lifelike).


How the HFR plays also seems to vary a bit based on the demands of a given setup in the story – which seemed to be something purposefully showcased in the footage that was shown. While the first scene was a day-set action sequence that had characters running around in open areas with lots of daylight, the second was set entirely in a dark skeleton-filled crypt, and the third was an emotional moment in brightly-lit office.


Based on what I saw, the material that had the most amount of light looked better than that which didn’t, and for what should be obvious reasons, it was definitely a lot easier to adjust to the frame rate when people are just standing and talking instead of throwing punches.



Ang Lee has some personal history with 120 fps, as that was how he shot his last feature, 2016’s Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, but Gemini Manpromises to be a very different kind of experience – particularly because of the influence of genre. Discussing how the two projects compare, Lee admitted during the panel following the footage that he was a bit out of his depth when working with HFR the first time, but that the chance to make this new movie with Will Smith allowed him to properly take advantage of its best properties this time around:


With Billy, that was the first time I tried this media, and I was really overwhelmed. It was like I all of a sudden had to swap to a new religion. Like what am I going to do?... For this, I start to feel like I know what I'm doing now. It's through [self-teaching] and also you learn from all the crews. Everybody is trying to make this media work. For this I jumped to a total opposite direction. This is total artifice; it's a fictional story that’s premise is as a genre movie and we try to make it look beautiful.

 

[terry78]

Interesting.

 

[DeadStroke]

Its early but I think I prefer what Ang Lee did with Will Smith than whats going in The Irishman.

The Irishman looks like the better film. Just talking in terms of making the lead actor look younger.

 

[Pennywise]

In the first trailer above I wonder who the armoured guy is at the 2:13 mark.

I think that's either Junior or yet another clone of Henry.

 

[samsnee]

But we’ve had full CGI characters. Jar Jar, , Thanos. And we’ve had movies with younger versions of older actors. So this movie feels late to the game.

 

[Pennywise]

https://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/1087757-cs-saw-120fps-gemini-man-footage-with-will-smith

Paramount Pictures invited ComingSoon.net to the Paramount lot in Los Angeles to be among the first audience in the world to see extended Gemini Man footage, and in eye-popping 120 frames-per-second 3D! Director Ang Lee, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and superstar Will Smith were all on hand to discuss their process in bringing this extraordinary original sci-fi story to life. Check out our rundown of the footage and quotes from the Smith and the filmmakers below!

RELATED: New Gemini Man Trailer Has Smith vs Smith!

“The familiarity we have with the human face is the most of all the things we recognize,” said Lee in his introduction. “For Will Smith, one of the biggest movies stars, to be watched and examined this way takes a lot of courage and heart.”

That was Lee just before the three scenes unspooled, and it was no wonder he was nervous. Not only is he recreating the younger look of one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood using cutting edge CGI technology, he’s screening it at an unforgiving 120 FPS frame rate that makes everything look ten-times more realistic than typical 24FPS.

The first sequence screened was shot in Cartagena, Colombia and involves the older assassin Henry Brogen (Smith) being pursued by his younger clone Junior (also Smith via CGI performance capture developed by WETA Digital). It starts with Henry telling a sleeping Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) that there’s a sniper on the roof and he’s going to distract him so she and Baron (Benedict Wong) can get away. “You’re a ****ty houseguest, you know that?” says Baron. Smith goes outside and spies Junior in a reflection in a puddle and shoots through his own shirt to draw the fire of the shooter. At one point Henry has Junior in his sights for a killshot but then notices that he looks EXACTLY like him, but younger. Instead of killing him, Henry leads Junior into a villa where a firefight ensues. It should be noted that the scene was extremely vivid in 120 FPS, and took a few minutes to adjust to the window-like realism and lack of motion blur. Smith tells Junior to stop and that he doesn’t want to shoot him, but then Junior asks, “Do you mind if I shoot you.” “I could have killed you on the roof,” replies Henry. “Maybe you should have,” says Junior. Henry then throws a grenade at him but Junior shoots it away before it explodes.

The second scene picks up with Junior having taken Danny hostage in an underground catacomb full of human skulls and bones. Junior sets up a tripwire then knocks out all the lights, then puts on a mask with night vision. He zip-ties her hands, and explains that Henry has cracked and killed eight operatives. Danny explains that those eight ops were sent by Gemini to kill Henry and her. Junior puts tape over her mouth and then hears the tripwire explosion and runs toward it, but Henry knocks him down and takes his weapons. The two stare at each other with befuddlement. Henry unties Danny, who then lights a flare. “For the record, I do not want to kill you, but I will if I have to,” Henry tells Junior. He then goes on a long speech where he tells him about his boss Varris, and then tells Junior intimate details about himself, including that he hates cilantro, loves puzzles and chess, suffers from insomnia, and the only time he feels happy is when he’s about to squeeze a trigger. He explains that 25 years ago Varris took his blood then cloned him. What’s remarkable about this scene is it’s just the older Smith in the background and then the younger CGI Smith in a tight closeup in the foreground, so you can see every pore of this WETA creation, and it stands up to serious scrutiny. “What are you, 23? Still a virgin, right? Dying to be in a relationship and connect but terrified to let anyone near you because what if somebody actually saw who you are? How could they love you?” He and Junior then get into a major scrap in the catacombs, and because Junior is fully CGI the animators were able to enhance the hits between the two to make it look like they’re really making contact during the fight. And what a fight. It goes on for several minutes with the two grappling for their lives, and Smith telling Danny not to shoot him. They both wind up falling down a shaft and into some water, and that’s when the scene ends.

The third scene involves bad guy Clayton “Clay” Varris (Clive Owen) in a dramatic confrontation with Junior, asking him why it’s so hard for him to kill this man. Junior remembers shooting turkeys at a park with Varris, who he refers to as his father. “I always believed you’d be happier not knowing,” meaning when he’s a clone. Junior says the only time he’s happy is when he’s flat on his belly about to squeeze a trigger, confirming/echoing what Henry said about him. “of all the people in the world to send to kill him why would you send me?” Junior asks. “He’s your darkness, you have to walk through this on your own,” says Varris, who explains that the whole point of this was to give Junior all of Henry’s gifts without his pain, and that he is loved. Junior begins to get visibly emotional, crying and hugging Varris, and the dramatic feel of the effects work here is extraordinary.