Imagine being able to fight the younger version of yourself and intrinsically battling your past choices while physically punishing yourself during the process. This extreme self-reflection is the idea behind Will Smith’s latest film, Gemini Man
In the trailer, a young Smith fights his present-day persona. “25 years ago he took my blood, he made you from me. He’s been lying to you the whole time,” the 50-year-old actor tells his younger self on screen. “He told you, you were an orphan, and of all the people in the world to come after me why would he send you?” The trailer is also littered with high flying action scenes interpolated with fast cars and firestorms.
Gemini Man’s director Ang Lee is keen on the idea of battling your past identities. “The concept of a man being chased by himself is a really compelling idea for a story,” Lee said per People. “Thanks to the technology now it’s possible.”
“It’s really great to be able to look at youth versus experience and what age would you really go back to if you could,” Smith added. “I’m not going anywhere near my 20s. Maybe my 30s. But it’s so beautiful to be able to explore that.”
The old images of Smith were made possible through 3D technology and are comprised images of Smith’s early days as an actor (think The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air ). For Smith, it was quite the trip looking at his past performances, so much so that he had to water down his stellar acting abilities to match the younger character (who goes by Junior).
“He’s like, ‘I need you to act less good,’” Smith said. “He would show me some of my old performances of things and would say, ‘Look at this, for a reference. That’s not good. I need you to do that.’”
Gemini Man hits theaters nationwide on October 11. In the meantime, watch the trailer above.
