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Rewind to the ‘90s, Gwyneth Paltrow starred in a romantic comedy called “Sliding Doors.” The movie’s premise was simple: “Sometimes tiny, seemingly inconsequential events – like narrowly missing a train in this case – can have dramatic consequences.”

The film takes the viewer through two storylines simultaneously, each set in a parallel universe, showing the two different paths her life took depending on whether she either caught or missed a particular train on a particular day. For example, in one universe she arrives home early to discover her boyfriend cheating on her. In the other, she arrives home too late and is unaware of the infidelity. The differences between the two universes continue from there.

This idea of alternate histories or parallel universes even stretches to the casting of movies themselves.

For instance, did you know that Eric Stolz, the drug dealer in Pulp Fiction, was originally cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future? It’s hard to imagine now but it was a “Sliding Doors” moment — who knows how film history would have changed if this casting had stuck?

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A similar situation almost occurred with Indiana Jones. George Lucas wanted Tom Selleck (Magnum PI) to star as the beloved Indy because he didn’t want Harrison Ford to become his “Baby Bobby Dinero.” As it turns out, after Selleck conducted some screen tests for the role he decided to go with Ford.

This begs the question: What if he we went with Selleck?

While we’ll probably never know the answer to this question, we can at least get a clear image of what Selleck would’ve looked liked as Indiana Jones compared to Ford.

In this post, we’re trading in our Delorean for Photoshop and learning how to reshape the ‘80s universe into one in which the mighty Tom Selleck ruled the movie screens.

What You’ll Need

• Two photos
• Photoshop (I’m using CS5)
• A graphics tablet (I’ve used my laptop touchpad as well)
• This texture

What You’ll Make

Continue reading %Making Alternative ’80s Film History Come to Life with Photoshop%

Source: SitePoint