Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis' new movie Here will digitally de-age Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, and other cast members with an AI-driven tool. Zemeckis and Hanks have a long collaboration history since 1994's Forrest Gump, working on films including Cast Away, The Polar Express, and Disney's live-action remake of Pinocchio. Here will be an adaptation of the 2020 graphic novel written by Richard McGuire, a story that centers on a single position across history, exploring the different things and people who stood within the space, such as when it was used as farmland or as a home.

As reported by THR, the artificial intelligence company Metaphysic entered a partnership with the CAA to develop new tools that will be used on Zemeckis and Hanks' next project, Here. The AI-driven tool Metaphysics Live will be used to conduct face swaps and de-age Hanks, Wright, and other members of the film's cast to allow them to portray the same characters at different points in time. The director stated he was drawn to how technology could be used to tell the story and that Metaphysics emerged as his preferred tool after conducting extensive research. Check out Zemeckis' full comments below:

"I’ve always been attracted to technology that helps me to tell a story. With Here, the film simply wouldn’t work without our actors seamlessly transforming into younger versions of themselves. Metaphysic’s AI tools do exactly that, in ways that were previously impossible, Having tested every flavor of face replacement and de-aging technology available today, Metaphysic are clearly the global leaders in feature-quality AI content and the perfect choice for this incredibly challenging, emotional film."

Related: Why De-Aging Works As 2020s Movie Trend (While 3D Failed In 2010s)

Robert Zemeckis Has Always Worked With Cutting-Edge Movie Tech

Marty grabs his hoverboard in Back to the Future Part II

Zemeckis has a history of using cutting-edge and experimental visual effects throughout his filmography, with his interest in utilizing the latest techniques dating back to his work on his Back to the Future trilogy. With the characters in Back to the Future Part II, Zemeckis would work alongside ILM to develop new digital compositing techniques that allowed the director to create sequences where Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and other cast members' characters would encounter either version of themselves from different points in time or relatives whom they also portray. Similar innovations were used in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Forrest Gump, where the composition was used to insert cartoon characters into scenes alongside actors in the former, while the latter inserted Hanks into historical footage.

As well as his live-action productions, Zemeckis is also responsible for helping push animation into new territories through features including The Polar Express. For The Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, and Welcome to Marwen, the director used motion capture technology to closely replicate human performances in an incredibly realistic style, while a virtual camera would then be used to shoot different angles of the recorded performances. The result allows Zemeckis to blend his cast's performances more seamlessly into the fantastical stories his animated features tell, with Zemeckis emphasizing that his hopes when using the technology on The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol were to capture how he felt when visiting the original story.

With big studios - including Disney - using it in theatrical features such as Captain Marvel and television series such as The Mandalorian, the use of de-aging has become more frequent in Hollywood. As such, the practice has received more scrutiny as more studios opt to incorporate them into their productions, as voices within the industry weigh in on the ethical and technological discussions surrounding the subject. But with Zemeckis having a history of wanting to push boundaries with special effects work throughout his filmography, there will be questions on how the director utilizes the technology with Hanks when Here hits theatres.

More: Every Disney Movie That Has Used De-Aging Technology

Source: THR