SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Star Willem Dafoe Wasn't A Fan Of Movie's De-Ageing Visual Effects

SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME Star Willem Dafoe Wasn't A Fan Of Movie's De-Ageing Visual Effects

Spider-Man: No Way Home star Willem Dafoe has shared his candid thoughts on the movie's de-ageing VFX technology, arguing that it was a tad "fuzzy" in places and perhaps not even necessary. Check it out!

By JoshWilding - Mar 23, 2023 07:03 AM EST
Filed Under: No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home brought back a number of villains from the franchise's past, but as they were pulled into the MCU right before their respective deaths, that meant de-ageing technology needed to be utilised. 

Marvel Studios has mastered that in recent years, and we'd argue that the work done to make Willem Dafoe and Alfred Molina look just as they did in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 was near-flawless. However, the Green Goblin actor doesn't agree! 

During a recent interview with Wired which saw Dafoe answer questions from fans, he was asked if he liked the end result of being made to look as he did in the early 2000s. 

"No, I don’t think so," Dafoe admitted, "Yeah, there was a couple of shots that were really fuzzy. I thought it was silly, because the de-aging thing, they don’t have down yet. And what’s the point? I don’t look that much older, I don’t think, anyway. It’s the creams."

While the actor obviously knows his own face best, this seems like a surprisingly harsh assessment. We'd actually argue that his costume looked worse, especially in the scene above where, a suit that was practical in 2002, was quite blatantly brought to life through far-from-perfect VFX. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Dafoe also seemed to hint that he could return as Norman Osborn. Asked if he'll be back, the actor simply responded by saying, "Well, that is a good question..."

We don't anticipate seeing his Goblin again unless it's in a Sony Pictures-produced project and, based on The Vulture's role in Morbius, that's not something we want to think about! Then again, if we head to the Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man's world in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty or Avengers: Secret Wars, the cured Norman may lend the Peters a helping hand. 

Do you think Spider-Man: No Way Home's VFX was up to scratch? 

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bobevanz
bobevanz - 3/23/2023, 7:08 AM
Same, thanks Victoria lol
Conquistador
Conquistador - 3/23/2023, 7:10 AM
I think it looked alright. The deaging had the least of the VFX problems with that movie.
Termin8r
Termin8r - 3/23/2023, 12:38 PM
@UniqNo - Agreed. I think the wonkiest shot of him is the one they used in the article. He's aged well and has always been in good shape so i thought he looked fine. Molina, on the other hand..... not so much. Weight gain and loss made it more difficult for him, and there were a lot of shots where he looked mad shiny
NoAssemblyReqd
NoAssemblyReqd - 3/23/2023, 7:23 AM
I honestly couldn’t tell they’d de-aged Dafoe. He’s always had a crinkly face.
GeneralChaos
GeneralChaos - 3/23/2023, 8:21 AM
@NoAssemblyReqd - There's a video on YouTube where they show scenes from NWH and scenes referenced from other Spiderman films. The "I'm something of a scientist myself" scenes show how little de-aging was done. He looks noticably older in NHW so I don't know where he's thinking he was de-aged. It's news to me
Fogs
Fogs - 3/23/2023, 8:40 AM
@NoAssemblyReqd - Agreed. Didn't even notice tbh.
DiegoMD
DiegoMD - 3/23/2023, 7:32 AM
It didn´t look horrible, but he´s right, they didn´t need to do it!
TheVandalore
TheVandalore - 3/23/2023, 8:02 AM
I tried watching No Way Home a month or so ago just at home, chillin. NWH is reeeeeally awkward to watch at home without an audience reacting and cheering to it. The cheesy was about a billion times more glaring than at the theatres.
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 3/23/2023, 8:09 AM
@TheVandalore - You realice that not only is not a good movie, but also it was designed to be seen in a packed theather...once.
Characters straight up stop talking when they first appear or say a joke waiting for the audience reaction.
TheVandalore
TheVandalore - 3/23/2023, 8:16 AM
@TheHumanSpider2 - Do you remember when they had like those Theme Park rides like the Terminator 2 ride or the Back to the Future ride, where they filmed all original stuff on sets with the real actors from the movies, and it was just for the ride? Remember how those old theme park videos always felt off and janky, like the quality just wasn't there. It was overly cheesy compared to the film, but it was the same actors.

Thats what No Way Home feels like to me. Like they slapped together some half assed story for a roller coaster and got all the actors together and just filmed it. And its just all off lol
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 3/23/2023, 8:24 AM
@TheVandalore - I understand it was filmed during the pandemic, but when you cant get two actor in the same room to share a scene...maybe you should delay the movie.
There are almost no scenes when two actor were even in the same room.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 3/23/2023, 9:01 AM
@TheHumanSpider2 - not a fan of Andrew jumping in the room to straight silence?
TheHumanSpider2
TheHumanSpider2 - 3/23/2023, 8:08 AM
He looked fine because he barely aged, but Alfred Molina, lol, are you kidding?
And the tech exists, Sony just doesnt owns it.
Anyway, the VFX was terrible and plain unifinished in the theatrical release of NWH.
Fares
Fares - 3/23/2023, 8:17 AM
I don't know about the de-aging thing, but a lot of the other VFX stuff in NWH was ROUGH. It pisses me off that such a special moment in comic book cinema history was handled in such a poor way presentation-wise, and there's no way of going back to fix it.
GeneralChaos
GeneralChaos - 3/23/2023, 8:17 AM
He was de-aged?! I was thinking, "Why didn't they de-age him?"

And to say they don't have the technology down... He obviously hasn't seen young Tony Stark.
GeneralChaos
GeneralChaos - 3/23/2023, 8:32 AM
Where's the de-aging?



DarkModeDan
DarkModeDan - 3/23/2023, 3:05 PM
@GeneralChaos - Yeah, I didn't really see it either.


2004:



2021:


GeneralChaos
GeneralChaos - 3/23/2023, 3:12 PM
@DarkModeDan - I think they did it somewhat with Molina, think I saw it in some behind the scenes footage, but if may have been subtle. Not as extensive as they did for Civil War with RDJ.
DarkModeDan
DarkModeDan - 3/23/2023, 3:28 PM
@GeneralChaos - Interesting. I guess I should have assumed there was some subtle de-aging, but I really was thinking they just stuck with standard film make-up.
DocSpock
DocSpock - 3/23/2023, 8:41 AM


Waahhh!! You deaged my face.

Nobody even knew we did it.

WAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



TheRealMandarin
TheRealMandarin - 3/23/2023, 8:51 AM
He was De Aged? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 cmon now Dafoe,No one noticed.
BillyBatson1000
BillyBatson1000 - 3/23/2023, 8:53 AM
Don't argue with this guy ...

He'll go Bobby Peru on you.
RitoRevolto
RitoRevolto - 3/23/2023, 9:31 AM
Yeah, looking at his most recent photos the de-aging wasn't necessary, but also I can't tell what they did to "de-age" him. Maybe they erased a wrinkle or two?
MrDandy
MrDandy - 3/23/2023, 10:10 AM
I honestly thought the deaging on Defoe was fantastic and looked great. Doc Ock was hit and miss at times but looked decent.
EgoEgor
EgoEgor - 3/23/2023, 11:37 AM
Is Hollywood against deepfakes? I swear these deepfakes on YouTube have better de-aging than these 100 million dollar movies.
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