History Main / DigitalHeadSwap

* {{Music/Weezer}}'s "(If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To" video takes place in Weezertown, a fictional town entirely populated by lookalikes of the band. Mostly this is just portrayed with band members in various costumes, but at one point there's the comical sight of four children who each have the face of an adult Weezer member.

** In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', this was done with Count Dooku and Palpatine for their lightsaber battles, quite necessarily given the ages of their actors Creator/ChristopherLee and Creator/IanMcDiarmid. However, the quality of the effect has resulted in UncannyValley for some.

* ''Series/TheMandalorian'' did it again in the ''Star Wars'' franchise with Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, with his younger head on a body double's body, while Hamill gives the vocal performance. This gave off uncanny valley vibes again, as some felt the CGI wasn't as good as it could've been.

* In Creator/TimBurton's ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', Tweedledee and Tweedledum have actors' heads on digital bodies. As well, the Red Queen's head is greatly enlarged.

* In ''Film/BeingJohnMalkovich'', when John Malkovich goes into the door (and inside his own mind), he sees numerous clones of himself (both males ''and'' females), all with Malkovich's face digitally superimposed on everyone. At least partially it is actually a subversion: They used [[http://www.propstore.com/product/being-john-malkovich/john-malkovich-mask/ physical masks]] and make-up extensively through the scene, though, probably, digital make-up, as well.
* ''Film/BladeRunner'': The original version had a shot during Zhora's death where it was obvious that a stunt double (more specifically, the awful cheap wig they had to use) was standing in for the actress. For the 2007 [[ReCut Final Cut]], actress Joanna Cassidy's face was digitally superimposed over that of the stunt double.

* ''Film/TheCrow'': Brandon Lee's face was digitally grafted onto a stunt performer's body for a small smattering of scenes not yet shot at the time of his death, including Lee's character looking into a mirror at his trashed apartment.
* ''Film/FreeGuy'': Dude, the NPC Antwan had created based on "blue shirt guy", is played by both bodybuilder Aaron W. Reed and Ryan Reynolds. Aaron provides the body and the physical stunts while Ryan provides the digitally added face and voice.

* ''Film/JackAndJill'' (2011), also with Adam Sandler, this time playing his own sister.

* Possibly the TropeCodifier for the digital age is ''Film/JurassicPark'', which did this out of necessity. During an action scene, a stunt double who was suspended over a mat (which later became a raptor's mouth) [[SpikingTheCamera looked directly up at the camera]]. Normally this would have ruined the shot, but the effects team were able to splice the normal actress' face over that of the double, turning an otherwise unusable piece of film into a particularly heart-stopping moment.

** Done with Robert Downey Jr. in a couple scenes in ''Film/IronMan3'' as he broke his ankle during a stunt and was unavailable for some time. A younger version of Downey also appears in a "flashback" of sorts in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''.

** In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', this was done with Count Dooku and Palpatine for their lightsaber battles, quite necessarily given the ages of their actors Creator/ChristopherLee and Ian [=McDiarmid=]. However, the quality of the effect has resulted in UncannyValley for some.

** In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', Carrie Fisher's young face is again seen, along with Creator/MarkHamill's, on the heads of stunt doubles in a brief flashback showing Luke Skywalker training Leia as a Jedi. For Fisher, her daughter, Billie Lourd, did the body doubling.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E16Doppelgangland Doppelgangland]]", where Willow's head was placed on her stunt double's body so she could interact with her vampire self in a few scenes.

* Possibly the TropeCodifier for the digital age is ''Film/JurassicPark'', which did this out of necessity. During an action scene, a stunt double who was suspended over a mat (which later became a raptor's mouth) looked directly up at the camera. Normally this would have ruined the shot, but the effects team were able to splice the normal actress' face over that of the double, turning an otherwise unusable piece of film into a particularly heart-stopping moment.

* A rather impressive example in ''Film/TronLegacy'' where Creator/JeffBridges' 20-year-younger head is digitally re-created. Jeff Bridges performed motion capture for the younger CG face, but another actor entirely filled the glowy shoes.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** This was going to be done on ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' for the scenes of Steve Rogers before he becomes Cap, sticking Creator/ChrisEvans' face on a shorter, scrawnier stand-in. However, it was subverted when the director decided against it, in order to preserve Evans' unique body language. Instead, Evans was digitally shrunk down.
** Done with Robert Downey Jr. in a couple scenes in ''Film/IronMan3'' as he broke his ankle during a stunt and was unavailable for some time. A younger version of Downey also appears in a "flashback" of sorts in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''.
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' combines Creator/HayleyAtwell in make-up with an actual octagenarian to show 70 years have passed for Peggy Carter.
** A younger Creator/KurtRussell shows up in flashbacks of ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2''.

* Digital head replacements pop up in the ''Film/{{Kingsman}}'' movies.
** In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', Creator/TaronEgerton's head is obviously placed on top of a stunt double's body in the final moments of Eggsy's climactic fight against Gazelle.
** In ''Film/KingsmanTheGoldenCircle'', Music/EltonJohn's head was superimposed on a stunt double performing a strenuous action sequence. And in the climax, the end of the battle required all three actors' heads be placed on doubles because the stunt team and special effects team couldn't figure out how to execute the sequence during production and the actors weren't available at the same time for reshoots.

** In ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'', Carrie Fisher's young face is again seen, along with Creator/MarkHamill's, on the heads of stunt doubles in a brief flashback showing Luke Skywalker training Leia as a Jedi.

* The Wayans brothers vehicle ''Little Man'', wherein Marlon took position on the body of a child actor.

* Basically, with enough Photoshop skills, the "[[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/face-swap Face Swap]]" meme is this.

* ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' has a variant on this, due to dignitaries being lost, they create the illusion of them touring the ship by digitally grafting their faces onto computer generated bodies that are touring the ship, buying them some time.

* Done in-universe in ''Film/TheRunningMan'' movie. Since the heroes cannot be found, the producers of the evil game contest use stunt doubles for the final fight and digitally put the heroes faces on them.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Doppelgangland", where Willow's head was placed on her stunt double's body so she could interact with her vampire self in a few scenes.

* Nancy Marchand (who played Livia Soprano in ''Series/TheSopranos'') died in the interim between filming seasons 2 and 3, leading the producers to have to drop a story arc and [[TheCharacterDiedWithHim kill her character off]]. In the second episode of the third season, "Proshai, Livushka", the producers combined this with a stunt double and alternate takes of dialogue to give her one last scene, at a cost of $250,000. The results were... less than convincing.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', this has been used numerous times to revive Classic Doctors for cameos whose actors aren't young/alive enough to convincingly portray their version of the character. Drew some criticism in the significant shot of them all standing together in the ending of "Day of the Doctor", which involved [[SpecialEffectFailure a waxwork Tom Baker head that looked nothing like him and some neck attachment problems]]. Well-received when reviving the First and Fourth Doctor for cameos in the "Save the Day" trailer, "Name of the Doctor" and "The Witch's Familiar", though.

[[SpecialEffectFailure Done poorly]], especially in early cases when the technique was not perfected, this can easily create ConspicuousCG and dip into the UncannyValley, although this effect can also be invoked on purpose.

* “Deep Fake” videos are videos where powerful desktop computers run a special program. They are given a large amount of source video footage of a person, typically a celebrity, to “train” the programs algorithm and can then superimpose the persons face onto footage of someone else. The internet being what it is the primary application has been to take video of attractive mainstream actresses and music stars and splice their faces into “adult” videos.

Relatively recent among filmmaking effects because it's very difficult to do without CGI, this is a technique that makes it possible for an actor to be uninhibited by the limitations of his body type. It's mostly used for comedic purposes, creating a sort of [[MixAndMatchCritters Mix-and-Match Critter]] situation with a man's head on a woman's body, or something similarly ridiculous. Also popular is the method of putting a real face on an otherwise [[SerkisFolk CGI character]] or vice versa. It can also be done to hide the use of stunt doubles or just to fix a shot in which someone's face is obscured or otherwise not ideal for the film.

** In ''Film/RogueOne'', Creator/PeterCushing's head was digitally placed on the head of another actor in his role as Grand Moff Tarkin. At the end, the head of young Creator/CarrieFisher as Princess Leia was digitally placed on the head of another actor during a brief scene where the Princess receives the stolen plans for the Death Star.

* Done for Guru Pitka's child self (with Mike Myers' normal head) in ''Film/TheLoveGuru''.

* ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'' is probably the most spectacular use of this trope, and certainly the most ridiculous. Steve Oedekerk took a 1970's Kung Fu movie and used this technique to composite his head over the main character's (or just plain replace the main character's whole body), essentially pulling a DigitalHeadSwap for ''at least half of the movie.'' And then he dubbed every character's voice save one, including his own.

* Done to eerie effect in the video for Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss_BmTGv43M Perform This Way]]", a parody of Music/LadyGaga which put Al's head on a woman's body.

* Wet Wet Wet:
** The video for the song "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwKeNIUbMsM Strange]]" sees the band members having their heads swapped onto various types of bodies, including a pregnant woman, a contortionist and a child, by two Japanese women. At the end of the video, the tables are turned, and the two women end up with their heads swapped onto the bodies of a footballer and a male bodybuilder.
** The video for "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLnapb-30hA CNR]]" is made with enlarged footage of real faces spliced onto bodies which are a mix of filmed actors and other animation techniques, creating the effect of a world in which everyone has giant heads and mostly fixed expressions.

Relatively recent among filmmaking effects because it's very difficult to do without CGI, this is a technique that makes it possible for an actor to be uninhibited by the limitations of his body type. It's mostly used for comedic purposes, creating a sort of MixAndMatchCritter situation with a man's head on a woman's body, or something similarly ridiculous. Also popular is the method of putting a real face on an otherwise [[SerkisFolk CGI character]] or vice versa. It can also be done to hide the use of stunt doubles or just to fix a shot in which someone's face is obscured or otherwise not ideal for the film.

[[SpecialEffectsFailure Done poorly]], especially in early cases when the technique was not perfected, this can easily create ConspicuousCGI and dip into the UncannyValley, although this effect can also be invoked on purpose.

* ''Film/GameOfDeath''. In order to complete the movie after the death of Creator/BruceLee, they hired a FakeShemp to stand in for Lee by either obscuring most of his face with sunglasses or, in one infamous moment, [[SpecialEffectsFailure pasting a cardboard cutout of Bruce's face onto a mirror to act as the double's reflection]].

* In ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'' when Jack and Rose are running down a flooded hallway, their faces are superimposed over stunt doubles.. It's noticeable, though, as the sequence was longer and in slow motion.

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', this has been used numerous times to revive Classic Doctors for cameos whose actors aren't young/alive enough to convincingly portray their version of the character. Drew some criticism in the significant shot of them all standing together in the ending of "Day of the Doctor", which involved [[SpecialEffectsFailure a waxwork Tom Baker head that looked nothing like him and some neck attachment problems]]. Well-received when reviving the First and Fourth Doctor for cameos in the "Save the Day" trailer, "Name of the Doctor" and "The Witch's Familiar", though.

* This is done in the first episode of ''Series/BlackMirror'', to fool kidnappers into believing that their demands had been met. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]

** Done with Robert Downey Jr. in a couple scenes in ''Film/IronMan3'' as he broke his ankle during a stunt and was unavailable for some time.

* Done for Guru Pitka's child self (with Michael Myers' normal head) in ''Film/TheLoveGuru''.

* A rather impressive example in ''Film/TronLegacy'' where Jeff Bridges's 20-year-younger head is digitally re-created. Jeff Bridges performed motion capture for the younger CG face, but another actor entirely filled the glowy shoes.

* In ''Film/RogueOne'', Peter Cushing's head was digitally placed on the head of another actor in his role as Grand Moff Tarkin. At the end, the head of young Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia was digitally placed on the head of another actor during a brief scene where the Princess receives the stolen plans for the Death Star.