Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star in the latest film from Robert Zemeckis – the time-shifting, camera-locking Here. Take a gander at the new trailer:
Time is constantly on the move in Here, the next film from director Robert Zemeckis, but the camera doesn’t. Written by Eric Roth, Here’s big concept is that it takes in thousands of years of history, but always from the same location and without resorting to all the tricks we’ve grown used to as cinema’s evolved – so no shifting camera angles, no establishing shots, and no obvious edits.
What Zemeckis and his team use, though, is CG trickery, and lots of it. Using a piece of AI-powered software called Metaphysic Live, Here digitally de-ages leading actors Tom Hanks and Robin Wright and follows them as they grow from young lovers, to a middle ages family with kids, and onwards to their inevitable old age.
As proven by the first trailer (see below), Zemeckis also heads back to the dinosaur era to observe the meteorite that ended their reign, then winds forward as a house is built on the same site in the late 19th century, before shifting again to the post-WWII Baby Boomer generation and a voluminously-haired Hanks and Wright. Look out, too, for a smart-looking Paul Bettany.
Although we can’t judge a film too harshly from this distance, the trailer suggests that the digital de-aging is more painterly than photoreal, and it looks as though the actors are standing against a CGI backdrop in most shots. It’s the story that really matters, though, and given Roth and Zemeckis have struck gold before with Forrest Gump and Contact, it could be they’ve dreamed up another winner here.
Here is out in US cinemas on the 15th November 2024. When we get a UK premiere date, we’ll let you know.
Podcast: In conversation with Eric Roth
