Gemini Man

Nobody can force themselves into maturity. It is a process that takes time and commitment. I personally long for the days when I mature past my present hangups and failures. And I bet I am not alone in this regard. So what’s the secret to unlocking maturity?

In the film Gemini Man, Henry Brogan, played by Will Smith, is a government hitman. He’s not simply an assassin; he is the best at what he does. So good in fact that his government decided to secretly clone him in a project covertly labeled Gemini. When Brogan decides to retire, top-level agents within the program decide that he must be eliminated. But since Brogan is the best, who will be qualified for the job? Enter Junior, the product of project Gemini. Played by a digital re-creation of a younger Will Smith, Junior has all of Brogan’s natural abilities. But he’s missing the experience, wisdom, and judgment that can only come from time.

The film is a technological first of its kind. To generate the younger version of Will Smith, directors filmed the 51-year-old actor wearing special sensors that captured his exact movements as he played Junior. A younger body and face was then digitally remastered over the older real person. The result is hardly distinguishable from reality.

In a recent interview, Smith was asked about the challenges associated with talking, walking, and moving like a younger version of himself. Always committed to the quality of his art, Smith watched videos of his days on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, studying closely his old mannerisms. One might think that the process would not be so difficult; after all, he’s still the same person, just a little (30 years or so) older. But time changes a person, altering more than their physical appearance. There was an unforeseen challenge. Smith explains:

You know what the most difficult part is, it’s like playing youth. So there is a naïveté to youth and there’s a look in someone’s eyes when they really don’t know. But as you get older, there’s something, like, it just gets in your blood and in your cells when you know things. . . As an actor, you can’t unring that bell. So I went back, and I studied my old material to try to find youthful naïveté.

In another interview, Smith stated that it would be easier for a younger version of himself to act older than for the older version of himself to act younger.

Naïveté is defined as a lack of experience, wisdom, or judgment. Time changes a person. Time on a job brings vocational experience, wisdom, and judgment. Time spent with children brings paternal experience, wisdom, and judgment. Time on the court brings game-play experience, wisdom, and judgment. Time brings maturity, and it is hard to hide.

Writing to the church at Corinth, Paul encourages Christ-followers to live in accordance with their growth. He expects that their time studying and applying God’s Word should have changed them, to a greater degree than they are presently acting. Paul summarizes, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11)

Our Christian maturity, or the lack thereof, tells us a great deal about the time we have spent developing our faith-walk. Spiritual growth, like natural aging, is hard to hide. Said another way, “it’s hard to unring that bell.” Time changes us. Committed to Christ, it is never wasted. Time spent with Jesus brings spiritual experience, wisdom, judgment, and a putting away of childish things.