Vine FX delivers full‑CG de‑ageing in Prime Video’s ‘Lazarus’

Vine FX has provided visual effects for Lazarus, the thriller series created by New York Times best‑selling author Harlan Coben and adapted by Bafta winner Danny Brocklehurst. The studio’s work includes de‑ageing actor Bill Nighy and designing sequences that reflect the psychological themes explored in the drama.

Synopsis of Lazarus: Joel Lazarus (Sam Claflin) returns home to confront long-buried trauma after the apparent suicide of his father, dr Jonathan Lazarus (Bill Nighy). As he begins to uncover unsettling clues and experience strange phenomena, Joel is drawn into a cold case tied to his sister’s unsolved murder 25 years earlier. 

Vine FX creative director Simon Carr led the team with particular attention to preserving the identities, performances and emotional detail of the actors. The team addressed this challenge in the de‑ageing of Bill Nighy and Amanda Root, employing a hybrid pipeline that combined computer‑generated imagery, machine learning and compositing techniques. This approach allowed the production to reduce the years on screen while retaining the integrity of the performances.

Vine FX CG lead Matt McKinney said, “Bill’s face presents a unique VFX challenge, it’s instantly recognisable and deeply expressive. Obviously the clients wanted a believable finish, so they didn’t want to change his glasses or hairstyle too drastically in the de-ageing process. Visual subtlety was essential. While full-CG replacements provided maximum control, complete replacement wasn’t the goal. The CG model looked great on its own, but when you compared it to the original plate, the differences stood out.”

The team adopted a multi‑pronged approach, combining CG head construction, machine learning and compositing to achieve its first full‑CG de‑ageing pipeline. Carr oversaw the process, while R&D developer Peter Noble created a domain‑constrained model trained on thousands of facial images, drawing on research from L’Oréal and Disney. Facial capture was carried out using Unreal Engine’s Live Link Face App with FACS libraries, though early outputs occasionally pushed the likeness beyond the intended result.

Amanda Root’s role presented a different challenge. Her characteristic brow furrow is central to her performance, and conventional smoothing risked losing that detail. To manage this, the team used CopyCat‑based methods in Nuke, enabling frame‑specific adjustments that maintained the expressive quality of her delivery.

Carr shared, “If you de-age and smooth Amanda’s face too much, you essentially lose 90 per cent of her performance. For de-aging that did not require a full CG, or even ML approach, the team found Nuke’s Copycat tool to be invaluable.” 

Vine FX delivered more than 235 shots across six episodes. The series required a visual approach that blended past and present within a narrative exploring generational trauma and psychological suspense. The brief for the environments was equally ambitious: to establish a consistent atmosphere with effects that were seamless on screen. The team developed a visual language that was slightly futuristic and deliberately positioned between British and North American styles, aiming for an evocative and international tone.

Vine FX executive VFX producer Kaitlyn Beattie commented, “The clients wanted the environment to appeal to a broader audience and feel neither distinctly UK nor North American. Shooting in Manchester and Liverpool gave the show an urban backbone, but the team was asked to obfuscate location cues, insert extensions, and create variations in weather and lighting that emphasised claustrophobia, density, and tension.” 

A recurring visual theme in the series was urban compression, with buildings crowding together, the sky largely obscured, and rain and darkness present in many scenes. Vine FX’s environment work contributed to this effect, including a shot that began at street level and expanded to reveal a skyline of skyscrapers.

With three directors working across six episodes, maintaining a consistent tone required close coordination. Wayne Yip, who directed the first block, set out the series’ visual language and internal rules. Nicole Volavka and Daniel O’Hara built on this foundation in their own episodes, bringing individual style to action and character‑focused sequences while remaining aligned with the established framework.

Consistency was reinforced by the decision to use a single VFX vendor across the production. Directors who worked within these boundaries were key to keeping the series on track. The team implemented structured systems to manage the workload, with Frame.io annotation and client engagement helping to reduce review times. As a result, delivery was completed ahead of schedule. 

All six episodes of Harlan Coben’s Lazarus are now available to watch on Prime Video.