The premise of Jeremy Renner’s latest movie sounds simple enough: five childhood friends, embroiled in a decades-long game of tag, decide to take things to the next level at the wedding of the only undefeated player. You’d think the film, called Tag, would be smooth sailing for Renner, who co-starred in several Mission: Impossible and Avengers films but alas: Renner apparently broke both his arms while shooting a stunt for Tag, which hits theaters Friday. Undeterred, the film’s production team covered his casts with sleeves and simply CGI’d a pair of unbroken arms onto Renner’s body.
If computer-generated arms sound a bit, well, unrealistic, they’re not alone. Below, we’ve compiled other weird and wacky instances of CGI-altered body parts (or in some cases, entire bodies) in films. Some of these bits of digital trickery are subtle enough that you’ll have to look twice to spot them, but others are just plain… bad.
Dakota Johnson’s Pubic Hair in Fifty Shades of Grey
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Seamus McGarvey, the cinematographer for Fifty Shades of Grey, revealed that Dakota Johnson’s pubes, covered at the time of filming, were digitally added in post-production. In an interview with the New York Times, McGarvey explained: “We were protecting the actors. Jamie [Dornan] had a cover over his penis. Dakota [Johnson] had kind of a patch that went over her pubic area, and right round her whole body. We were in the curious situation, in post-production, of adding [pubic hair]. I wouldn’t say it was one of the highlights of my career, but it certainly was one of the most surreal scenarios.”
Baring their Manhood: Armie Hammer in Call Me By Your Name, Robert Patrick in Terminator 2
Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino’s queer love story for the ages, managed to make instant celebrities of Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, and that notorious peach. Less talked about is Hammer’s apparent wardrobe malfunction on set. In an interview with Andy Cohen on SiriusXM, Hammer, Guadagnino, and Chalamet revealed that Hammer’s short shorts were so tiny that a certain part of his genitalia was often on display—and had to be digitally removed in post-production. “There was a few times where they had to go back and digitally remove my balls from the movie,” Hammer said in the interview. “They were short shorts. What’re you gonna do?” The problem may not have been just the shorts. “It’s both things,” Guadagnino said to Cohen, implying Hammer’s “short shorts and big balls,” as Cohen guessed, were both at fault.
A similar story surfaced after last year’s re-release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. For the anticipated release, James Cameron kept his original cut largely intact—with just a few alterations. In addition to resolving a continuity error involving a loose windshield during a car chase, Cameron decided to fix another loose item: Robert Patrick’s genitals. Though Cameron hasn’t acknowledged the edit, attentive viewers discovered that, when the T-1000 arrives, naked, toward the beginning of the film, the original version included a split-second glimpse of Patrick’s scrotum. In a gesture of decency, the re-release added a computer-generated piece of concrete to cover him up—a fittingly Terminator-esque take on a fig leaf.
Nicolas Cage’s Ripped Abs in Ghost Rider
Nicolas Cage didn’t shoot Ghost Rider with a dad body. He worked out extensively to prepare for the taxing role of Johnny Blaze, but when it came down to filming that memorable shirtless mirror scene, it seems that he got a little boost from the edit room. Screen Rant reports that while removing Cage’s tattoos in post-production, the visual effects team also digitally enhanced his rock-hard abs. That’s a relief to know, as it would be a little disconcerting to believe that the then-43-year-old Cage’s ripped torso—which appears to ripple with uncanny brawn—was just the result of sit-ups.
Wesley Snipes’ Eyes Wide Shut in Blade: Trinity
Released in 2004, Wesley Snipes’ digitized eyes are a low point of an already-maligned film. Snipes and director David Goyer famously didn’t get along, and Snipes later sued both New Line Cinema and Goyer in 2005 for “financial and artistic reasons,” according to the AV Club. In one of the last scenes in the film, Snipes’ character was supposed to open his eyes. But in a commentary track recorded for the film’s DVD, Goyer said, “the other thing that happened in this scene is that Blade opened his eyes, and on the day, Wesley did not open his eyes.” So, CGI eyeballs it is!
Posthumous Performances: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Fast & Furious, Gladiator and More
Both Princess Leia and Grand Moff Tarkin’s likenesses were recreated digitally for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but for different reasons: Peter Cushing, who played Tarkin, died in 1994, but Carrie Fisher, still alive at the time of filming, simply could not portray a decades-younger version of her iconic character due to age. Instead, two actors were hired to portray Tarkin and Leia in the new film, with the characters’ original likenesses digitally superimposed in post-production. The actor playing the late Cushing provided the character’s voice, but Leia’s few lines were cobbled together from the audio of older footage of Fisher. Though Fisher was alive when Rogue One was filmed and gave it her blessing, both characters have raised important questions about the ethics of resurrecting actors through CGI. (Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has vowed not to digitally recreate Fisher in any upcoming Star Wars films.)
Star Wars isn’t the only example of a deceased actor being digitally resurrected. After dying tragically in the middle of filming Fast & Furious 7, franchise star Paul Walker appeared in the final version of the movie with scenes completed via a combination of CGI and body-doubling from his two brothers. Oscar-winner Philip Seymour Hoffman also made a brief computer-generated appearance in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 after passing away mid-shoot, and Oliver Reed was even nominated for a posthumous BAFTA Award after his work in Gladiator was completed digitally.
Henry Cavill’s Stiff Upper Lip in Justice League
It was the CGI blunder of the year: Henry Cavill’s upper lip, shrouded in ‘stache, was smoothed into a clean shave in post-production for several key Justice League scenes. The cause of the flub was a contractual conflict: Because it coincided with Cavill’s work on Mission: Impossible 6, Superman was required to keep his mustache through several Justice League reshoots, resulting in some truly ridiculous cartoon-mouth moments that would be hilarious if they didn’t look so creepy.
