Even with certain terms being met amid last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike, the threat of artificial intelligence in the business is still prevalent, especially with loopholes and tricky terminology. And Nicolas Cage has been one of the biggest skeptics on the use of AI in Hollywood, now warning those who will enter the business that it’s something they’re going to have to face head on.
Appearing at this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival, Nicolas Cage took time to call out AI, particularly a form dubbed EBDR, or an employment-based digital replica. In short, AI can be (used with the performer’s participation) to alleviate workload and production costs. Going through this on The Flash, Cage has enough experience to know that it’s going to do more harm than good to the new generation of actors.
Nicolas Cage took his stance on AI by saying, “The studios want this so that they can change your face after you’ve already shot it — they can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance. I’m asking you, if you’re approached by a studio to sign a contract, permitting them to use EBDR on your performance, I want you to consider what I am calling MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination — my performance, in response. Protect your instrument.”
Nicolas Cage also noted that AI lacks pretty much everything we love about the craft of acting. “Film performance, to me, is very much a handmade, organic, from-scratch process. It’s from the heart, it’s from the imagination, it’s from thoughts and detail and thinking and honing and preparing.” What, you think artificial intelligence could possibly generate Longlegs?
Earlier this year, a study revealed that the use of AI in Hollywood could end up costing the industry more than 200,000 jobs in just three years. While we’ll have to wait to see if those numbers turn out to be accurate, even the possibility is scary enough. And of course this isn’t just about acting, as we have already seen it take heavy criticism in the graphic design realm as well.
What do you make of EBDR? Do you see this posing a significant threat in Hollywood?