Movie extras are at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence, as Hollywood has already begun carrying out “full body scans”.
One actress, who appeared as a background actor in Disney+ and Marvel series WandaVision, recalled being instructed to step in front of a series of cameras on rigs while a scan of her body was carried out.
Alexandria Rubalcaba told NPR that she was told: “Have your hands out. Have your hands in. Look this way. Look that way. Let us see your scared face. Let us see your surprised face.”
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Her fellow actors were also scanned in a process that took around 15 minutes apiece, before their digital replicas were created – and Alexandria was never told what that avatar would be used for.
(Image: Getty Images)
She’s used to making $187 per day as an extra, and told the publication that she didn’t give any permission for her image to be used.
She said: “What if I don’t want to be on MarioVision, or SarahVision?
“I fear that AI is eventually going to weed out background actors. They won’t have any use for us anymore.”
Now the already striking SAG-AFTRA union is up in arms at the news, with one negotiator claiming studios are offering actors a single day’s pay after being scanned, with their image able to be used “for the rest of eternity”.
(Image: Getty Images for The Hollywood Sign Trust)
However, some studios claim that the avatars can only be used for projects the extra was hired for and not “indefinite future productions”.
Another background actor, Rebecca Safier, told NPR that she was also scanned – and she worries casting agents could claim actors are being “difficult” to avoid having to hire them again.
It’s not just movie extras who are at risk from AI. The technology has already been used to de-age Harrison Ford for the latest Indiana Jones movie, and to craft Val Kilmer’s voice for Top Gun: Maverick.
And if it continues to grow, who’s to say that lead actors can’t also be replaced by AI?
(Image: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures / Avalon)
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Jamie Lee Curtis, however, had something to say about that when discussing her new Haunted Mansion flick with Collider, explaining: “he visual effects level is all technology. Once you know how to do that, it’s science.
“The performing part is not science, which is why AI will never work because emotions are real and they come from human beings. They don’t come from machines.
“So to watch beautiful actors do that kind of work, under those circumstances, is something very impressive to me.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
