![]() Then we found our own reference of him in various recent movies that we could confirm likeness on to build his base head geometry. We started with a scan of his face and costume measurements. In particular, our teams for Modelling, Groom and Shaders were key to the success of achieving Robert Downey Jr.’s digital self on film as completely photo-real. One solution was to use a stand-in for scenes that required quite a bit of movement, so our challenge in this case was to seamlessly graft a digital version of Robert Downey Jr.’s head onto a completely different actor. It cuts out just before we see the foot twist! As a result, the shooting crew had to get creative and ponder how to complete the film with Robert unable to move freely. Interestingly, the actual take was a great stunt to begin with, so it is used in the film. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) broke his ankle while performing a stunt, as Sean Walker discusses also, below. An interesting production dilemma on that show was Robert Downey Jr. The goal for face replacement work on Iron Man 3 was to be as invisible as possible. It was the culture of collaboration and achieved excellence, time after time, that enabled our success. All departments had a part in bringing this movie milestone to screen. The success came from the sum of multiple departments, artists and technicians working collaboratively to create what can only be achieved with a team that is cohesive and gels incredibly well together. ![]() Weta Digital has a lot of experience working on hero-character worthy digital characters and this project called upon all of that experience. Through painstaking attention to detail we were able to preserve the performance and transfer it to our digital Junior. Will’s performance ranged from angry to hurt to betrayed to a semblance of acceptance. On top of recognising the importance of pulling off the right mood within this scene, there were no visual distractions to take you away from the emotional connection between the two characters. This is a contained scene that focused on a heated discussion between a father and son – a real turning point in the film. ![]() The scene where Junior confronts Verris in his office was one of my favourites. Secondly, the majority of Will’s performances in his younger years that we remember are comedy moments, with the genre-specific exaggerated facial expressions that naturally came with it. Firstly, the fact that he would have had a substantial amount of make up on, for today’s standards. ![]() There were two major hurdles we had to face. The on-set capture set-up for Will Smith. This was incredibly difficult, but also key to selling the believability. This was predominantly through his performances on ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ and his early feature film roles. The biggest challenge on Gemini Man was making a completely photoreal version of Will Smith that was valid for him physically in his teens and early twenties, while still honoring the global audience’s collective memory of how he has looked over the years. Read on to hear directly from Weta Digital crew-members Scott Chambers, Sean Walker, Erik Winquist, Ken McGaugh and Martin Hill as they discuss their particular experiences with face replacement VFX. ![]()
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