And Vin Diesel was never the same size as the Rock in “Fast and Furious.”
However realistic a movie might look, the reality is that it’s all an illusion. While sometimes movies are shot at real filming locations, often the sets are created just for the film. The same thing happens with actors’ features, which are often exaggerated or downplayed according to the requirements of the script.
They don’t say that movies are magic for nothing, right?
But production and post-production teams are so incredible and professional that it can be very difficult for us to spot some of this “magic”, unless they talk about it in an interview or some “behind-the-scenes” photos are released, which reveal some of the production secrets.
Are you curious to find out when and how you’ve been tricked? Here we show you just some of the classic movies that used optical illusions to change the height of some of their protagonists and convince us that they were either taller or shorter than they are in real life.
You won’t believe it! Have a look at the pictures below:
1. Elijah Wood is only 2 inches shorter than Ian McKellen, but in «The Lord of the Rings» he looked smaller than that
IMDb
The film crew used a technique called “forced perspective” to make the Hobbits look much smaller than the rest of the characters!
2. Tom Hardy had to wear platform shoes so that he appeared to be the same height as Christian Bale in “The Dark Knight”
IMDb
3. Hagrid isn’t as gigantic as he seems in Harry Potter
IMDb
In reality the actor is around 8 inches taller than grown-up Daniel Radcliffe.
4. Scarlett Johansson was made to look taller than she is in “The Avengers”
IMDb
In real life, the actress is almost 8 inches shorter than Chris Evans, but their height difference is hardly noticeable in the movie.
5. Humphrey Bogart was shorter than Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, so he wore platform shoes.
Reddit @Isai76
6. Michael Clarke Duncan looked like a giant in “The Green Mile” but he’s only around 4 ½ inches taller than Tom Hanks
IMDb
7. Robert Downey Jr was made to look taller than his wife in “Iron Man”
Marvel
The actor is 5’7” in real life and the actress is 5’8’’
8. All of the characters looked like they were more or less the same height in “Mission Impossible 3” but that wasn’t the case
IMDb
In real life Maggie Q is 5’6’’, Tom Cruise is 5’7’’, Jonathan Rhys Meyes is 5’9’’ and Ving Rhames is 6’0’’
9. Mel Gibson was also made to look taller in “The Year of Living Dangerously”
IMDb
10. James Marsden is only 2 inches shorter than Famke Janssen, but in “X-Men” the height difference was greater
IMDb
The post-production team tricked us again!
11. Amanda Seyfried had to wear heels in the movie “In Time” to reach Justin Timberlake’s height
IMDb
In reality, there’s a height difference of almost 10 ¼ inches between them but it was hardly noticeable in the film.
12. Josh Hutcherson is shorter than Jennifer Lawrence but in the Hunger Games he looked like he was taller.
IMDb
The actor is almost 2 inches shorter than the actress.
13.Robert De Niro had to wear platform shoes to look taller in “The Irishman”
14.There wasn’t that much of height difference between Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus in “The Last Song”
IMDb
Pero en la vida real ella mide 26 cm menos que el actor.
15. Vin Diesel looks like he’s almost the same height as the Rock but it’s an illusion.
IMDb
Clearly Vin Diesel is much smaller than Dwayne Johnson, but you can hardly tell in the “Fast and Furious” franchise as they used forced perspective and photography tricks to make him look taller.