‘Life Is Such a Burden’

Tom Hanks isn’t looking to go back and re-live his 30s.

The 68-year-old actor, who plays a wide range of ages in director Robert Zemeckis’s new movie Here thanks to de-aging technology, was recently asked by Entertainment Tonight if there was a specific age he enjoyed going back to in the movie.

However, Hanks said that “the hardest for us was when we were playing 35. That time when your metabolism stops, gravity starts tearing you down, your bones start wearing off. You stand differently.”⁠

The Oscar winner added that he thinks he’s “in better shape now” than when he was in his 30s.

“You know why? Because my kids are grown up, I’m getting decent exercise, and I can eat right,” he explained. “You can’t do that when you’re 35. Life is such a burden!”

Here, which sees Hanks star opposite Robin Wright, is a generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, loss, laughter and life.

The Forrest Gump star also previously told People that while it was “good to look young again,” he admitted that he would “rather be as old as I am.”

At the film’s AFI Fest premiere in Los Angeles last week, Zemeckis spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the technology they used to track the actors over the story’s decades. The team worked with AI studio Metaphysic on a tool called Metaphysic Live, which created face swaps and de-aging effects on top of actors’ performances in real-time.

The filmmaker explained that it was basically “digital makeup” and allowed the cast to see themselves 20 or 30 years younger while filming the scene, rather than waiting for visual effects to be added later.

Zemeckis added, “They look at it and they go, ‘Oh, I’ve got to be a little bit more spry, I have to move a little quicker, I have to raise my voice a little bit.’ It was important for them to see it.”

Here arrives in theaters on Nov. 1.