Director Andy Serkis of "The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum" confirmed that the creators will resort to artificial intelligence to de-age some actors.
"We are only using AI for a little bit of de-aging at the moment. Some characters will look a little younger, and machine learning is part of that process."
Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen will return to their roles as Frodo and Gandalf more than 25 years after the release of "The Fellowship of the Ring." However, the events of "The Hunt for Gollum" will take place before the first part of the original trilogy, so the actors' appearances will need to be adjusted to match the story's chronology.
However, Viggo Mortensen will not return to the role of Aragorn – a younger version of the character will be played by Jamie Dornan. According to one version, the actor refused to participate precisely because of his unwillingness to use digital de-aging of his appearance, but the filmmakers have not officially confirmed this information.
Serkis himself considers AI a useful tool, provided its application does not harm people and does not deprive them of payment for their work. According to him, technologies can be used, for example, for quickly creating references.
"We are the parents of AI, so we must be good parents and raise it properly. If we train AI well, it can help us in many industries."
The director also recalled the MASSIVE program that Peter Jackson used when creating the original trilogy.
"In the original films, Peter created MASSIVE – a program that allowed thousands of orcs to act independently. This is a magnificent example of AI use. But in our film, we are not generating footage with AI."
Filming for "The Hunt for Gollum" is taking place in New Zealand. The film's premiere is scheduled for December 17, 2027.