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Will AI-Supported De-Aging Figure in the VFX Oscar Race?


Trends that could factor into this season's VFX Oscar race include de-aging and particle simulation, such as in "Dune Part 2."

They include Robert Zemeckis’ “Here,” which deftly used techniques developed at AI startup Metaphysic (which is credited as the lead VFX studio on the movie) to create a production workflow to help age and de-age stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright over the decades of their characters’ lives. As part of the range of practical and digital VFX work in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” director George Miller employed a clever use of Metaphysic’s AI tech to create a resemblance between Alyla Browne, who plays the titular character as a child, and Anya Taylor Joy, who assumes the role as the story skips ahead several years. Contenders also include films that leaned heavily into cutting edge particle simulation while creating believable worlds, such as to develop the harsh desert surface of Arrakis in “Dune Part 2” (work led by VFX studio DNEG) and to conjure the violent tornados that endanger Oklahoma residents in “Twisters” (Industrial Light & Magic).

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