Facial Mapping And The Future Of Acting

We have already written about Disney’s sci-fi sequel Tron: Legacy which is slated to be released next month. In an interview with the Daily Mail, the film’s lead actor Jeff Bridges (who also starred in the original almost 30 years ago and will now play opposite a younger version of himself) talks about the facial mapping technology used in the sequel and how this could allow him and other actors to simply produce a few expressions and let their digital versions do bulk of the acting work.

New technology enabled film-makers to record the star’s facial movements in minute detail and then superimpose them onto a digital model of his younger self.

For Bridges, the development marks a new epoch in cinema.

‘Whenever I see a big, epic film where the character has aged from being a boy to an old man, traditionally there are different actors playing him and there’s always a little bump for me when they change from one actor to the next. But now I can play someone at any age. It’s the beginning of a new era of film-making.

‘This technology means I’d never have to work again in my life and I could still make films. I can say, “I’ll lease you my image.” In a few years they’ll be able to take aspects of three different actors and make a fourth character. It’s getting weird. They can say, “Let’s put Bridges in here, but I want a little Al Pacino in there – what the heck. Let’s see what kind of guy we come up with.” I think they’ll have this ability to go, “We’re going to give you lots of money; you just come in and do all your expressions, be real, sad, happy… and that’s it.”’

Daily Mail: “‘This technology means I’d never have to work again in my life and I could still make films’: Jeff Bridges returns in Tron”