Diane Keaton to Star in De-Aging Comedy ‘Arthur’s Whiskey’ That Might Test Our Tolerance for Deepfakes

What if you could drink an elixir that would immediately give you the young Robert De Niro treatment in The Irishman? That seems to be the question asked by the upcoming Diane Keaton-led comedy Arthur’s Whiskey.

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The Arclight Films production released its cast list earlier today, at the top of which is the Oscar-winner and Hollywood icon, with Olivier-award winner Patricia Hodge and House of the Dragon and Fleabag’s Bill Paterson joining Keaton in the ensemble cast. Arthur’s Whiskey follows the newly widowed Joan, who is shocked to find that her late husband had concocted a spirit with the power to turn anyone’s appearance youthful, a potion she shares with her dearest friends to paint the town red. However, the group soon find that they are unequipped to make it as young people in the modern world.

Though the exact moviemaking method used to accomplish this de-aging magic has not yet been revealed, the cast for Arthur’s Whiskey is noticeably missing, respectfully, young people. Presumably, Keaton and her friends will play both the unaltered and magically unaged versions of themselves, following suit with the aforementioned De Niro project, various Star Wars properties and countless other Hollywood endeavors that have used deepfake technology to erase Father Time’s handiwork from mature A-listers’ faces. 

If there was ever any hope that Hollywood would give up its obsession with eternal youth and allow living legends to literally act their ages, that notion may very well have been abandoned somewhere in the uncanny valley.