Will Smith Faces Off Against Himself In Ang Lee’s ‘Gemini Man’ Trailer

In Gemini Man , Will Smith’s greatest enemy is himself—specifically, a more youthful, CGI-driven version of himself. In the first trailer for the upcoming action thriller, directed by Ang Lee, Smith plays an expert assassin getting tracked down by a creepily intuitive killer . . .
who turns out to be a younger Smith, sneakily created by scientists (and de-aged by movie magic).

“Twenty-five years ago, they made you
from me,” Smith shouts at Younger Smith. “They chose me ’cause there’s never been anyone like me.”

“They” in this situation is a reference to Clay Verris, played by an ashen-faced
Clive Owen . The film, which hits theaters on October 11, also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong .

Gemini Man ’s use of de-aging special effects is right on trend, arriving shortly after Captain Marvel expertly de-aged
Samuel L. Jackson in the 90s-set film, and before Martin Scorsese’s Netflix offering The Irishman, which will use de-aging technology to melt years away from cast members Robert de Niro , Joe Pesci , and Al Pacino . Per the Wrap , the
Gemini Man script has been kicking around Hollywood since 1997, but the special effects that would have been required to make it happen weren’t developed enough at the time to get the film off the ground. That’s changed now that crisp CG work has become de rigueur for big action thrillers.

As far as the de-aging magic goes,
Gemini Man looks more on the uncanny side at certain points in this first trailer, if only because Smith has been in the public eye for so long that everyone knows exactly what he looked like 25 years ago. Seeing Fresh Prince -era Smith—fade haircut and all—get revived for the big screen is a funny feeling, to say the least; who knows what it will feel like to watch a whole movie’s worth of him.