AI-generated James Dean appearing in new movie 68 years after actor’s death
The power of artificial intelligence (AI) is bringing famous actor James Dean back to the movies — 68 years after his death.
The BBC reports a digital clone of the Rebel Without A Cause and East of Eden star will “walk, talk, and interact” alongside living actors in the upcoming Back to Eden.
WorldwideXR (WRX) chief executive Travis Cloyd said the sci-fi movie would involve an “an out of this world visit to find truth” that “leads to a journey across America with the legend James Dean”.
The technical process used to recreate Dean will be a “passive flat-screen 2D” portrayal, not too different from deepfakes. WRX is employing a large collection of Dean’s films, photographs, and audio as the source material for his recreation.
Dean died in a car accident in 1955 after only featuring in three movies.
Despite his short career, he was regarded as a revolutionary actor for his use of method acting to truly get into the minds of his characters, similar to the approaches taken by Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift.
His youth also played a significant role in his acclaim, as he bucked the trend where producers primarily opted for older actors in major Hollywood releases.
It was previously announced that Dean would return via a digital clone for a movie called Finding Jack in 2019, but that project was cancelled.
In addition to the Back to Eden appearance, Dean’s likeness could be used in interactive platforms like gaming, augmented reality, and virtual reality.
Several Hollywood studios have digitally resurrected actors to either make them appear younger or star after their death.
Among them, Disney created younger versions of Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill for their roles as Leia and Luke Skywalker in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Mandalorian, respectively.
Fisher was also brought back posthumously for an appearance in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, using unreleased footage from The Force Awakens.
Universal did the same for Paul Walker’s last scene in the Fast and Furious franchise.
Most recently, Disney recreated a younger version of Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
But the practice has raised ethical, legal, and financial concerns in the industry.
The use of AI for digital recreation is among the reasons for the ongoing Hollywood actor and writer strike, the biggest of its kind in several years.
There are currently few rules governing the use of AI to digitally clone real people.
Many actors — particularly extras with less powerful legal representation — are concerned that studios will only pay them for one day’s work and then use their likenesses multiple times and across other movies.
There are also major questions over the nature of the acts that the likenesses will perform — like having a serious actor star in an over-the-top comedy or a conservative one appearing in gratuitous sex scenes.
The question of who gets financial compensation for a deceased person’s appearance makes the issue even more complex.