Will Smith, Ang Lee & Jerry Bruckheimer present an early look at Gemini Man!

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It’s hard to think of a filmmaker that has taken as many fascinating and varied turns in his career as Ang Lee. The director has explored emotional drama in films such as SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, THE ICE STORM, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN as well as LUST, CAUTION. He has presented audiences with the gravity defying CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON as well as the magical journey taken by a man, on a boat, with a tiger, in the gorgeous LIFE OF PI. And now, Mr. Lee hopes to bring elements of action/adventure, science fiction and emotional drama all together with the upcoming sci-fi thriller GEMINI MAN. His latest stars Will Smith, playing both an over-the-hill hitman, as well as a clone of his younger self.

Recently, Paramount Pictures invited JoBlo – along with other members of the press – to get an early look at the upcoming feature. This included a making of featurette – which you can check out below –  in addition to a brand new trailer for the film which you can find above. And most importantly, we witnessed three scenes from GEMINI MAN – which I will go into shortly. Afterwards, we were treated to a lively Q & A with Will Smith, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Ang Lee himself. During the conversation, the three spoke on creating a young version of Mr. Smith, shooting at 120 frames per second and how this project has been awaiting the right collaboration for nearly two decades. Below, you can find a few highlights from the conversation, but before that, how is the actual footage that we witnessed?

For starters, I’m not a massive proponent of shooting a feature film in 120 FPS. Add 3D to it and you have an experience that I wasn’t sure would work. However, the first sequence was the perfect way to start the presentation. In it, we see that “Junior” (younger Smith) is chasing down Henry (Smith). This is a ridiculously effective shoot-out, one that is so ultra clear that it takes a bit of time to get used to. However, Mr. Lee adds an interesting touch by using a mirror image throughout. At one point, Henry uses the reflection in a puddle to see Junior above. The same technique is used with mirrors and anything else with a reflective surface throughout the chase. 

After a moment, the two end up facing off against each other on a large staircase. While I won’t give away what happens – partially because the scene cut off at a the perfect cliffhanger spot so I can't say I know how it plays out – you yourself can see a terrific shot of this sequence in the trailer when one character attempts to bounce a grenade off of the wall, only to get a surprise return. And when it comes to the younger version of Will Smith, all I can say is wow! Watching the actor – and one time rapper – grow up, it was surreal to see him side by side against the real person. I was struck by what an amazing job Ang Lee and WETA have done. During the footage revealed, it was easy to believe in the character once I got over the fact that I was watching someone that really looked like he just stepped off the set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Really mind-blowing stuff.

Next up, we get a better introduction to Junior, as we find him heading into what appears to be the Paris Catacombs – or some other underground area with a ton of skulls piled on the walls. With him is Danny (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who he is clearly using as bait to bring Henry out of the woodwork. Unfortunately for the younger version, he gets exactly what he wants. When Henry does show up, it begins as a bit of stand-off. However, it quickly escalates into an intense fist fight between the two. The sequence is certainly well done, especially with the extreme detail that comes with the 120 FPS, however a couple of the punches didn’t quite seem to actually make contact early on. That said, while it starts off a bit rough, it ultimately works as a well choreographed battle between the two men. And while we only get a glimpse of Winstead’s involvement, frankly I’m thrilled to see her kicking a little butt.

And finally, in a quieter moment, Junior confronts the man he works for about who he really is. The most surprising thing about this sequence is how well a CG version of Smith handles the emotional material. Playing off the always terrific Clive Owen, the younger version learns a few things about his past causing a bit of conflict as to who he is, and what he is assigned to do. During the discussion that followed the screening, Ang Lee did open up about trying to create fully fleshed out character that are dealing with a few serious moral dilemmas. In addition to pushing the limits of cinematic technology to paint this picture. Thankfully, Will Smith is especially good at playing the two similar men. In fact, it appears to be one of his better performances thanks to his collaboration with the famed director.

It’s always tricky to watch about fifteen to twenty minutes of a film and get a complete sense of how good the final product will or won't be. Yet, the footage presented here is involving and exciting. While it’s easy to appreciate Ang Lee’s visual style, I’m not terribly sure that ultra realistic look of the film worked for me. However, when you only witness three scenes, you can't fully digest whether or not you’ll get used to the look watching the entire film. With the added element of 3D, the vibrantly life like images create an unique unique direction for an action flick. Ultimately though, after a few minutes it became less intrusive, at least for this viewer. There is certainly promise here as Ang Lee has proven to really understand bringing storytelling to a new level by utilizing film technology.

Ultimately, after witnessing the footage, I can honestly say that I’m looking forward to GEMINI MAN. Coming to theatres on October 4th, we’ll see if Mr. Bruckheimer, Mr. Smith and Mr. Lee manage to create a modern science fiction drama, one that will please action fans without skimping on the emotional impact of the story.

On Jerry Bruckheimer’s history with GEMINI MAN:

Jerry Bruckheimer: "Man, it's been 10 or 15 years and I kind of never looked back, and I kind of always look forward. It's so exciting to be able to bring this to an audience. We're so lucky that these two gentlemen decided to work together and work on this. I really feel blessed because you have a world class filmmaker with a real class actor, and one thing about Ang and Will is just how hard they work. Their success is not an accident because they put the time in, they put the energy in and they have the talent. And that's a blessing for me."

About “de-aging” and making Will Smith look 23:

Ang Lee: "I would like to make it clear that we're not de-aging. Now these days people just brush off whatever age does to us, or nature does to us. I would rather think that we create, if not recreate actually creating a new character. It’s a youthful Will Smith, which is not how they remember this guy which is the biggest problem. And I'd be saying that Will is a much better actor today than 30 years ago."

On finding his performance as “Junior:”

Will Smith: "I think what is so spectacular about the special effects team is they’ve  absolutely outdone themselves, and so it's not de-aging. The younger character is not me. That is a 100% digital character that is a completely recreated character. They didn't take my image and just some of the lines, you know, it is a completely CGI character in the same way that the lions in THE LION KING are CGI characters. This is a CGI character and that's part of what is so spectacular about this. They're using my performance to create the CGI elements. Right. So it's, so for example, like the skin is CGI. That's not, that's not my skin that they just stretched. The level of the work is so spectacular… The special effects team at WETA has done something that's really never been done before."

Bruckheimer on recreating Will Smith at 120 FPS:

JB: "… a lot of people knew Will when he was 20 or 19 when he was on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. So you have a memory of what he looks like. So that informs what you're looking at and you have to understand what Ang has done. This is so difficult just to do it at 24 frames on film or digitally. He did it at 120 frames, which means you see every little thing. It would have been much easier at 24 frames because we can hide a lot. There's a diffusion too. When you see this film, it's lifelike. You can't wear makeup. It’s unbelievable what Ang has accomplished. Now you have to give credit to Skydance, and to David Ellison, and Paramount for taking this huge leap because nobody has done this."

Will Smith’s take on shooting in 120 FPS:

WS: "This was my first time, and Ang was inventing cameras, and things like that. So as an actor, it’s a little scary cause none of the old tricks work, you know, the things that you can hide in 24 frames, that you can hide in different ways that you perform. And the 3D camera is close  in every shot, right? So it’s in your face and every little pore with every detail, and what happens is, you can’t fake a moment, right? You don't get away with, you know, it sees it. Like you actually really have to find it and you got to get there and it's wildly unforgiving.

The thing that was most difficult for me…  so in principal photography, we did Henry, right? All of the Junior scenes, we would have another actor stand in the space, and played the Junior scenes. So I would get another performance. What I was trying to do also with having another actor make choices that I may or may not have made, I could get a different sense of what someone might choose in these moments. So he studied all of my old stuff and was giving a facsimile of what he thought I would choose. But it was, it was great. So I was Henry the whole time. 

Then for the end of the movie it’s with Junior, and then Junior you go into the motion capture. So it's the rig. You have the helmet and the two cameras right in your face, and it's really difficult to try to connect because there's two cameras in my face. So I'm playing a scene with Jerry, but the two cameras are in my face capturing the performance. So just the technology of it and then you know, going back to a scene and trying to try to understand where it was in the moment, which was, I think it was a very, it was a strange and difficult process.

As far as who Will actually faces off with in the fight sequences:

WS: "Well what was so great is with that, because for Junior, they’re recreating the face, I didn't have to do the Junior part of the fighting. I just did the Henry part and then, having a stunt man on the other side. It was great because he takes it to a whole other level and because he's shooting at 120 frames, there were things that you could do with punches and with hits that you can't do in a normal media. It's like some of those shots are good, solid, clean hits because you're doing face replacement. Uh, or is it called face replacement? I want to use the right terminology because you're doing it anyway."

Jerry Bruckheimer on how Will Smith’s work has changed over his career:

JB: "Well when he first started, he was a young, young actor. He was a rapper originally and he fell into acting and he has such an infectious personality,  and you can look at his soul. He's such a good person, and that has propelled his career. And what's so amazing about what he's done, he studied his craft so hard and so well that each movie he makes, he gets better as a performer. And I think this is one of his best performances cause he's "playing" the character. It's so difficult when you saw it and you see the scene and you saw where he's crying, that's actually real performing that character as a 23 year old, that's an Academy Award winning performance that he found in this movie. And he's got an Academy Award winning director working with him and coaching him. But the talent is there. He's evolved into this amazing actor. And that is what's so wonderful about working with Will all these years to watch him grow and to watch his career take off and how he can entertain audiences."

Ang Lee on creating not only a visual experience, but an emotional one as well:

AL: "I understand, at the end of the day, it’s the human heart you try to grasp. It doesn't matter what kind of audience… we share something deep that we don't usually talk about. You have to have a gut feeling. When the material doesn’t grab you, it doesn’t grab anybody. I cannot fake that. Well I'm good at faking on so many [levels], but I cannot fake emotion that way.

With this character, I know I have it. I'm like, oh Will Smith, you know what they say about finding a better version of yourself. So I'm putting myself into his shoes. What would I do when I see my other self, I physically visualize it and kick my ass and what do I do as a whole reflection of my life. So that emotion has to be real. [As well as] the dramatic event, the story, the genre, which is kind of the contract to the audience. You just go along with it. You adapt, you work with other brilliant artists to try to get as good actors you can gather and then you go ahead. It doesn't matter what kind of adventure I go to.
 

It's that gut feeling that moves me. So this is a situation, it doesn't lose me in a very abstract way cause we never really visualize what it's like. And now we're doing that. You know, just like six months ago, I still cannot say we have it or not. I hope it worked for you.

Will Smith explains why he couldn’t play either role when he was 23:

WS: "Yeah, no, it was just what, what Ang was asking for with this was a very personal endeavor for us. Our initial conversations he was talking about himself in terms of the GEMINI MAN to have me understand the things that he was trying to capture between these characters. And I just at, at 23 years old, I couldn’t even comprehend what he was trying to say, what he was trying to capture. So it was the timing wise in my life, for reflection, to have to think about what you are and what you have done and to be able to look at a younger version of yourself walking a very similar path and to wrestle with regret. You know, and to have an opportunity to potentially cleanse. I can do that now a whole lot more than I would have been able to, to relate to that at 23."