Using special effects to degenerate actors is a risky proposition, but for Billy Crystal and Judith Light in their new series Ago, the effort paid off.
The Apple TV+ supernatural drama, premiering Friday, October 25, centers on Eli (Crystal), a child psychologist who loses his wife Lynn (Light) and meets Noah (Jacobi Jupe), a “troubled young man” with a “haunting relationship” to Eli’s past, the synopsis says.As Eli goes through the “mysterious bond” he shares with Noah, he also remembers moments from his decades-long relationship with Lynn.
Instead of casting younger actors to play Crystal, 76, and Light, 75, during the flashback scenes, Ago used de-aging technology on both actors.
Billy Crystal, Judith Light and Rosie Perez haunt the past in a new Apple TV+ thriller Ago: Watch the first look
Judith Light and Billy Crystal in ‘Before’.
Apple TV+
“They did a test on him [Billy]and they showed me this first, and I said, ‘Billy, is this going to work?'” Light tells PEOPLE. “Because we were friends before, and I was like, ‘Honey, what are we working?’ … We didn’t want to get younger actors because that often throws people off. It’s like, ‘Wait a minute. What is this?’ And we didn’t want people to be thrown out of the story at such a climactic moment when they first meet, and you realize that these people are kindred spirits.”
“He just showed me and I was totally blown away,” she continues, adding, “I saw the two of us together, and I said, ‘This is really amazing. It’s really stunning.'”
While Lynn has many dark moments on screen, Light explains that it wasn’t difficult to rely on her considerable acting skills to make those moments believable.
“It wasn’t difficult at all and it wasn’t like I had to reach inside and kind of pull something out and do what they often call substitutions when you’re acting from your own life,” she explains. “It was just when you believe it, and it’s real, and you have a partner you work with, and they believe it, and it’s real, something magical happens. Something moves. You’re not in your head thinking about it.”
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Judith Light in ‘Before’.
Apple TV+
In portraying Lynn, who the trailer hints is up to no good, Light was able to explore her character’s complicated journey with ease and comfort.
“What tells you that someone is not well? What’s going on? What happens to the body? What’s going wrong? It wasn’t difficult at all, and Billy was very supportive and amazing,” says Light.
Although Light looks back fondly on the project — “It was the ultimate collaborative experience,” she says — she’s especially proud of Crystal.
“He has nothing I can’t make. … It is Mr. on Saturday evenings [A New Musical Comedy] where he sings and does eight shows a week,” she says of his Broadway appearance in 2022. “And I know he’s done dramatic work before. … I don’t hold Billy like, ‘Oh yeah, it is comedy guy.’ He is an incredibly versatile artist who is a friend of mine. I knew somewhere substance to lead to this.”
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Ago premiering Friday, October 25 on Apple TV+.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education