Tom Hanks is all for looking younger on screen, but the process of digital de-aging is “kooky” to him. At the premiere of AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Friday, October 25, Hanks, who used digital retouching for his upcoming film Here, chatted with PEOPLE on the red carpet and shared his thoughts on the matter. “It’s good to look young again,” he said, before adding, “It’s not great to be young again.”

The two-time Oscar winner reunites with Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis and co-star Robin Wright in the upcoming film Here. Hanks and Wright play Richard and Margaret Young through various ages as the story chronicles their home life. “It was kooky. That was the gimmicky kind of aspect of it,” Hanks confessed. 

Makeup can cover up to a certain extent, but “this other super-fast-filter computer” made it an instant process. They didn’t have to wait for post-production to see themselves look young on screen. It was a fun part of the filmmaking process, but the part that was most challenging—both physically and emotionally—was filming the older versions of Richard and Margaret. 

“When the aging process just begins to kick in, and you no longer are able to spring up off a couch, and you’re not yet at a place where life slows down completely,” he said. After playing different ages, Hanks’s takeaway was that he’d “rather be as old as I am.”

The film is adapted from Richard McGuire’s comic and is helmed by Zemeckis. The director spoke about the film in a January 2023 statement, where he highlighted the use of Metaphysic, a digital effects company famous for its @DeepTomCruise accounts on social media. 

He also praised the actors for their contributions, which helped them smoothly transition into younger versions of themselves. “Metaphysic’s AI tools do exactly that, in ways that were previously impossible!” he added.