GEMINI MAN. Directed by Ang Lee, Gemini Man makes the viewer see double with two Will Smiths. But how did the Taiwanese director clone the actor?
[Mis à jour le 3 avril 2022 à 20h40] This is the big question posed by Gemini Man, released in 2019 and broadcast on France 2 this Sunday, April 3, 2022. How did they clone Will Smith? Because the feature film not only offers to see the younger actor again, but presents two physically identical characters. If we have known for some time that digital rejuvenation technologies are becoming more and more sophisticated (see our slideshow below), it is rare to see them used throughout the duration of a film and particularly during scenes of action as impressive as in Ang Lee’s Gemini Man.
To put this crazy new challenge into images, the Taiwanese director had to work with a visual reference to help the artists in charge of the special effects. It was therefore necessary to choose an actor who would serve as Will Smith’s young understudy. Someone who looks a lot like Will Smith when he was in his twenties. And it is in actor Victor Hugo (yes, that’s his name) that Ang Lee found the rare pearl. With a build similar to that of Smith in his early youth, the comedian played opposite Will Smith in all the scenes where Henry Brogan, his character, faces his clone. It was only then that the technicians superimposed the digitized face of Will Smith, trying to stick as closely as possible to Victor Hugo’s performance. Result of the races: in Gemini Man, we do have the impression that Will Smith is facing his younger double. Successful bet for Ang Lee!
Synopsis – One night, Henry Brogan, is attacked by a squad. The professional killer comes out alive and realizes that the government’s Gemini program, led by Clay Verris, is trying to eliminate him. To his amazement, he discovers that his assassin is his spitting image as a younger person. It is in fact a clone, which has the gift of anticipating its slightest movements. This clone would not be unique and would be part of a larger plan. Helped by his friends Danny and Baron, Henry will try to rally the one responsible for killing him to his cause and put Clay Merris out of harm’s way…
