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It’s safe to say that Nicolas Cage is a one-of-a-kind actor. If you look back at Cage’s best movies, he has the talent to transform himself into any character that no performer can replicate. However, would all of that change with the rise of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry? The veteran actor expresses how “terrified” he is about the role A.I. could have as an artist.
Nicolas Cage’s latest serial killer role in Longlegs plans to terrify audiences left and right. As for the Oscar winner himself, Cage had some terrifying worries of his own when his publicist had to remind him in the middle of his interview with The New Yorker about having to get two scans done for his upcoming projects after the press day. This sparked the National Treasure actor to get real about what worries him about these A.I. scans:
Well, they have to put me in a computer and match my eye color and change—I don’t know. They’re just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital A.I. . . . God, I hope not A.I. I’m terrified of that. I’ve been very vocal about it.
The Con Air star’s concerns are completely understandable in terms of how his career could potentially be impacted. Many Hollywood actors worry about how their likenesses will be used after the 2023 Writer’s Strike raised concerns about A.I. interfering with the work of artists.
The Matrix actor Lambert Wilson was an “eyewitness” to the power of A.I. when he had to record a number of facial expressions and say as many words as possible for his avatar in the Enter the Matrix video game. As Wilson gave his likeness away to the video game two decades ago, he worried how it would be used without his knowledge. The same was said with voice actors filing a lawsuit after their voices were used in various projects without their consent or compensation.
It has been reported that Disney+’s WandaVision has already used A.I., with background actors getting their faces and bodies scanned for digital replicas, but they gave no permission for their likeness to be used in other projects. Nicolas Cage expressed concerns about how scary that would be for the same thing to happen to him once he gets scanned:
It is. And it makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artists end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where’s the heartbeat going to be? I mean, what are you going to do with my body and my face when I’m dead? I don’t want you to do anything with it!
Like Nicolas Cage, other actors have voiced their opinions of A.I. use like Star Trek’s William Shatner. His open-minded response was that he’d want permission for his likeness to be used in future projects, but he’d leave the decision of A.I. usage to his family after his death. Ashton Kutcher’s viral comments about A.I. suggest that he’s not worried about its future in the entertainment industry. He believed that the new technology won’t replace the artists but will be a new technological advancement they’ll have to work with.
In regards to the idea of being body scanned for future TV and film projects, Nicolas Cage admitted how “terrified” he is of A.I. use and what this could mean for artists going forward. With ethical dilemmas playing into the A.I. usage debate, more concerns like these will be brought forth and hopefully lead to some clarity on A.I.’s true impact on the future of the industry.
Audiences can see Nicolas Cage’s upcoming horror film Longlegs in limited release starting this Friday, July 12. You can also check out our 2024 movie releases for the latest movies coming to theaters and streaming.