Once upon a time in Hollywood, a dodgy wig was the go-to solution for filmmakers attempting to make their stars look young. That, or casting an entirely different but similar-looking actor.
Since then, expanding budgets and technological advancements have allowed cinemagoers to see things you people wouldn't believe – and de-ageing is an increasingly used effect. Slowly but surely, it's even climbing out of the uncanny valley to nail some startlingly realistic results.
With Samuel L Jackson and Clark Gregg both set to be de-aged for next year's Captain Marvel, here's our ranking of every major use of CGI de-ageing (so far) from worst to best...
(Oh, and special mention to Steven Soderbergh's The Limey, for dodging the whole issue by using old footage of Terence Stamp from Ken Loach's Poor Cow as flashbacks of his Limey character Wilson.)
12. Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart (X-Men: The Last Stand)
Fans expect to see mutants when watching X-Men films, but the CGI mutations of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in one Last Stand flashback crossed a line.
In the scene, a young Erik Lehnsherr (McKellen) and Charles Xavier (Stewart) invite Jean Grey (played by Haley Ramm, with Famke Janssen mercifully spared de-ageing) to the X-Mansion.
How Jean's parents could allow their daughter to go anywhere these waxworks is a mystery. Watch it back and it's clear they've just walked in from Peter Jackson's animated Adventures of Tintin.
11. Robert Downey Jr (Captain America: Civil War)
So much of Civil War feels perfect that the de-ageing of Robert Downey Jr is a glaring weak link.
Simply put, in the digital form of a teenage Tony Stark, the actor looks like a Doctor Who Auton. There's an artificial visual plasticity to his skin, but the thing that really fails to ring true is the mature voice with which junior Downey Jr speaks.
Directors Anthony and Joe Russo tried to cover their backs by including the scene as an in-film plot recreation but we're not buying it. Surely a billionaire perfectionist like Stark wouldn't accept this?
10. Jeff Bridges (Tron: Legacy)
Twenty-eight years separated Tron from its 2010 sequel and, let's face it, Jeff Bridges – star of both – has changed in looks. In Tron: Legacy, Bridges features as 'present-day' Kevin Flynn, a flashback Flynn and as Flynn's de-aged digital duplicate Clu.
Still very early in the development of de-ageing technology, Tron: Legacy's attempt struggles to convince. Bridges' vacant eyes and stiff facial expressions unnerve for all the wrong reasons.
Even director Joseph Kosinski has admitted that the effect wasn't a triumph. He can say that again.
9. Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge)
Once upon a time, Johnny Depp was a heart-throb.
Those who held a torch for young Johnny back in the day were treated to a cameo from Depp's chiselled looks when Captain Jack Sparrow appeared in an uncanny flashback during Salazar's Revenge.
Shot, initially, at distance and with moody lighting, the effect is great. Until young Sparrow speaks face-on to the camera and the illusion – as well as his whole face – wobbles.
8. Michael Douglas (Ant-Man)
Though Ant-Man is a 'present-day' entry in the MCU, the film opens with a 1989 flashback.
Here, a digitally nipped and tucked Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) resigns from S.H.I.E.L.D after having discovered their attempts to replicate his – still dangerous – shrinking technology.
Whilst the skin job is effective, it's the dead eyes of 'young' Douglas that give the game away. Ironically, the make-up and CGI used to age-up Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter for the scene is splendid.
7. Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
In 2009, David Fincher's Benjamin Button marked the first major use of de-aging technology, with the plot actively depending on its success.
In the film, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is born with the body of an old man and lives his life ageing in reverse. If the CGI ageing of Pitt in the opening stretch of the film is a touch too broad to believe, the later de-ageing of the actor is impressively mounted.
It's not perfect but Pitt's stillness and Fincher's crafty use of light work wonders in hiding missteps.
6. Orlando Bloom (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
Elves in Middle Earth do not age. Humans on actual Earth do. This was the problem faced by Peter Jackson when he decided to squeeze Orlando Bloom's Legolas into his Hobbit prequel trilogy.
As elves are supposed to have an ethereal, other-worldly glow, Jackson had more leeway than most in pulling off the youthful effect. It also helps that Bloom is constantly surrounded in the film by motion caption characters even more unreal than his de-aged face.
5. Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee's Big Holiday)
When Netflix agreed to bring back Paul Reubens' loveable man-child Pee-Wee Herman, the 63-year-old actor was concerned that he looked too old for the part. Thanks to CGI, the problem was solved in a flash.
Among the more successful uses of the effect, the de-ageing of Pee-Wee works thanks to subtlety in the execution – make-up and face-tape were used alongside – and the youthful performance of Reubens himself.
As is becoming a theme, it's not perfect but here it's more pro than con.
4. Sean Young (Blade Runner 2049)
Blade Runner 2049's recreation of Sean Young's original AI Rachael managed another very convincing case of de-ageing. Convincing but controversial, with some critics asking why it was that a woman in her fifties must be made younger to appear in a sequel, when the – older still – man was permitted to appear wrinkles and all.
While Young provided the voice, her younger face was mapped onto that of a body double, who was used on set to help make sure the crew could nail the lighting. Which, largely, they did.
It's a cruel cameo but undeniable technical smash, partly thanks to how little digital Rachel is actually required to do.
3. Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas (Ant-Man and the Wasp)
Proof, if it were needed, that tech-wizards are only getting better at achieving realistic de-ageing, the most recent addition to the list is among the best.
Whereas Hank Pym alone was de-aged for Ant-Man, the film's sequel saw Marvel wheel out the effect again for his long-lost wife Janet Van Dyne, played by Michelle Pfeiffer.
Hayley Lovitt played Janet's body on-set and it was she on whom the younger face of Pfeiffer was mapped. It's very convincing, helped not least by how little Pfeiffer seems to have aged herself.
2. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Terminator: Genisys)
Fans got two for the price of one when Arnie returned to the Terminator franchise for Genisys. Not only did the one-time Governor of California appear in his current impressive form, but also in that of his '80s heyday.
Though he appears in just thirty-five shots, recreating the original Terminator took the team twelve months. Bodybuilder Brett Azar stood in on set, whilst Schwarzenegger was scanned in motion capture for dialogue filming. Behind the scenes, the team turned to Arnie's performances in the original Terminator, as well as in Pumping Iron, to help them capture the look for digital recreation.
Aided by the robotic identity of the character, not to mention in the frankly inhuman body shape of Schwarzenegger anyway, the effect remains sensational.
1. Kurt Russell (Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2)
Playing the long-lost father of Chris Pratt's Star Lord, Kurt Russell appeared both in the 'present-day' action of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. and in flashbacks, where he sported a much younger look.
While it was reported initially that make-up alone was employed to achieve Russell's de-aged appearance (encouraged by the actor) it later turned out that CGI was, in fact, the principal tool.
The fact that so many believed the effect was make-up alone, however, shows just how successful a job it was. Could have had us fooled for sure, which is why this one tops the list.
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