Samuel L. Jackson once again underlined his reputation for always being ahead of the Hollywood curve when he revealed he’d had concerns over the use of AI and digital likenesses dating back 20 years to his Star Wars days, with the actor ensuring that he removes anything from his contract that would allow his face to be used for means outwith his control.
There was a lot of commotion over rumors Bruce Willis had signed away the rights to his own face a while back, and with de-aging and deepfaking all the rage, there’s got to be more than a few thespians out there concerned that the uprising is going to either put them out of jobs, or keep them working long after they’re dead.
However, they should at least be able to take solace that when the industry tried it before two decades ago with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the results couldn’t have turned out much worse. The photorealistic animated epic cost a mammoth $137 million to put together, with plans afoot for Ming-Na Wen’s Aki Ross to be the world’s first digital actress, one who would be integrated into live-action projects and establish a career of her – or rather, its – own.
That obviously didn’t go to plan when The Spirits Within tanked at the box office to lose $94 million, with production company Square Pictures going into meltdown and eventually being shuttered as a result. Then again, technology has moved on rapidly since then, but it’s still comforting to know that the movie business has previous for failing in the contentious arena.