The first images of HereRobert Zemeckis’ next confusing film starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, have been revealed.
When we talk about experimentation in cinema, Robert Zemeckis knows his stuff. Between his early use of match moving, his 2D insertion techniques in live action sequences as in Who wants Roger Rabbit’s skin? or the democratization of performance capture, the gentleman is undoubtedly one of the directors who have attempted the most things through their filmographies.
His next feature film, Here, is obviously also very ambitious. The filmmaker finds his favorite actor, Tom Hanks, as well as Robin Wright (who already formed the main duo of Forrest Gump) for a project mixing intriguing concept and digital rejuvenation techniques. And justly, the first images of Here have recently been revealedand they give us a better look at what the film will look like.
Here for a hundred years
Indeed, in Here, Robert Zemeckis’ camera will not move. Not by an inch. The shot will therefore remain the same throughout the duration of the film (104 minutes) and it is time that will “move” in its place. The story will focus on a single room and the many people who inhabit it over the years, precisely for over a century. Filmed theater then? It would be very wrong to know Zemeckis who is considering Here as a technical and historical experiment as he confided to Vanity Fair :
« L’angle [de la caméra] never changes, but everything around it changes. In fact, it’s never been done before. Similar scenes can be found in the first silent films, before the invention of language and editing. But other than that, yes, it’s a risky venture. »
Here is also inspired by a basic material that is already out of the ordinary, namely the graphic novel of the same name by Richard McGuire from 2014, itself based on a comic strip by the author dated 1989 (it’s not just the film that spans the ages). We could already see in the book this single, immobile shot, in which the characters age. Zemeckis explained how he wanted to avoid being too similar to the original novel and creating abrupt changes between scenes:
“Instead of cutting straight to the next frame in full frame, we slide into the next scene, which allows us to move from one scene to the next in a way that allows us to really overlap the stories. »
Here or how to make young with old
But if the camera remains still in Here, the actors change enormously. To simulate the passage of time on the faces of his actors, Robert Zemeckis used digital rejuvenation techniques in collaboration with Metaphysic, a company specializing in deepfakes. The two main characters, Richard (Tom Hanks) and Margaret (Robin Wright) in turn travel through the 60s, 70s and 80s, while other actors find themselves immersed in the post-war period or even during the 21st century.
Zemeckis nevertheless recalled that these digital transformations always depended on the quality and performance of the actors:
“It only works because the performance is very good. Tom and Robin immediately understood that they were going to need to go back and channel who they were 50 or 40 years ago, and that they were going to have to bring that energy, that kind of posture, raising their voice upper. »
As with many other films in the filmmaker’s career, Here therefore uses fairly revolutionary techniques that are currently not widely used. Robert Zemeckis, however, made a point of specifying that above all they served the story:
“I’ve always been, for some reason, labeled as a visual effects guy. But they are there to serve the characters. There has always been a certain amount of restraint when it comes to trying. I think our job as filmmakers is to show audiences things they don’t see in real life. »
The first images are in any case disconcerting, the background seeming completely unrelated to the characters, as if they were moving in front of a constantly changing green background. By the end of post-production, hopefully the perspective and depth of field will be fine-tuned.
Here is my generation
In addition to Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, another member of the team Forrest Gump helped with the design of Here : screenwriter Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Dune, Killers of the Flower Moon). The project was born from a discussion between Hanks and the filmmaker on the set of Pinocchio in 2021, before Roth joined the party. Zemeckis, now 72, notes how he and his screenwriter wanted “tell their generation. »
The symbolic scope of Here will thus be based, in large part, on its characters each struggling in their own way in the face of the evolution of time and society. The director notably mentioned Rose (Kelly Reilly) and Al (Paul Bettany), the parents of Richard (Tom Hanks), who move into the house in the film after the husband returns from World War II:
“There were men in the ’30s and ’40s who lived through the Great Depression, then World War II, and then went into the ’50s, where everyone had this conformity. They didn’t have the tools to express their feelings. And so there was a lot of anger and a lot of outbursts. »
We are therefore obviously very eager to see what Here can give. The Robert Zemeckis film is scheduled for November 13, 2024 in our dark rooms, we will know at the end of the year if it will be as historic and revolutionary as we are promised.
