Digital de-aging has become more and more common, with a younger version of Harrison Ford appearing in this summer’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, as well as some de-aging for various actors in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. And now, Denzel Washington may just be the latest big star to get the digital youth treatment.
Speaking to NME while promoting The Equalizer 3, which hits theaters on Sept. 1, series director Antoine Fuqua revealed that he’s thought about using AI technology to de-age Washington for a potential origin story for his Robert McCall character.
“I definitely thought about it a lot,” he told NME. “Especially now with the new technology and the AI and all of that kind of stuff… Is there a story to be told about how [McCall] became this person – the younger version. I’ve had that conversation with Richard Wenk [who co-wrote all three Equalizer films] quite a bit.”
He admits, though, that he hasn’t broached it with Washington yet, so who knows what the 68-year-old Oscar-winning actor would think about it.
“It’s all so fresh and new. I’m still watching [the technology],” Fuqua added. “I’ve watched Harrison Ford’s film and I know there’s other movies coming out. I think Sony has one coming out with Tom Hanks soon [Robert Zemeckis’ Here]. And I’m hearing the technology is getting better and better and better. So I’m kind of watching it to see where it goes.”
It’s worth noting, though, that de-aging Washington for an entire movie would cost quite a pretty penny. The Irishman, for example, reportedly cost Netflix upwards of $200 million, and a good portion of that staggering budget was allocated to the technology of making Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino look younger. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, too, had an astronomical reported budget of around $295 million (which will translate into a loss for Disney).
For more on The Equalizer, check out our 2018 review of The Equalizer 2.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.