A new viral video shows how Tom Selleck would have looked as Indiana Jones if he had taken the role instead of Harrison Ford. Selleck was up for the role when the movie was first made, but he passed on it in the end. Now, the latest video-editing technology has given us a glimpse of the movie we almost had.
The video expertly grafts Selleck’s face onto Ford’s body, showing an approximation of his version of Indiana Jones. The clip was uploaded to YouTube by user Sham00k, and it has taken off, picking up over 269,000 views.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The video gives us a few of Indie’s most iconic scenes, including the big switch at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The face-swapping looks better in some scenes than others, but either way the effect is chilling, showing a passable rendering of Selleck in a scene he never shot.
The technology is known as “deepfake,” and it is growing in popularity. It is named for its use of “deep learning” technology, which is based on artificial intelligence, and its application to “fake” an image. It has already been used for everything from fraud to parody, especially as it becomes more widely available.
In this case, it simply gives us a different Indiana Jones, and fans are unnerved by it. The comments to the YouTube video remark on how good the edit is, and what it foretells about our entertainment industry.
“Imagine future movies where you can select the actors and actresses you want to play in them,” one fan speculated.
“I’d love to see Chris Reeves over the modern Henry Cavill movies, and all the 80s/70s villains over the modern incarnations like Zod and his cronies,” added another.
“I will say that Tom Selleck is more believable as being Sean Connery’s son,” a third person commented.
According to a report by Business Insider, Selleck passed on Raiders of the Lost Ark for the more steady job as the star of Magnum, P.I. at the time. However, he was George Lucas’ first choice for the role, who apparently did not want to be tied too closely with Harrison Ford.
“I said, ‘Oh, Steven. He’s been in two of my movies. I don’t want him to be my Bobby De Niro,’” Lucas reportedly told his writing partner, Steven Spielberg.
In the end, the Indiana Jones franchise contributed to Ford’s stardom at least as much as Star Wars did, and he is not ready to give up on it. In a recent appearance on The Today Show, Ford said that he is absolutely not okay with a younger actor taking over the mantle when he is no longer up to the job.
“Nobody else is gonna be Indiana Jones! Don’t you get it? I’m Indiana Jones,” he said. “When I’m gone, he’s gone. It’s easy… This is a hell of a way to tell Chris Pine this.”
A new Indiana Jones movie is reportedly in production, and is slated for release in 2021.
