Things are a might dry down by the Hollywood water cooler this week, particularly after Disney dominated the bullpen with announcements from their most recent D23 celebration. Thankfully, amidst the MORTAL KOMBAT castings, new JOKER trailer, and IT: CHAPTER TWO anticipation, a new "deepfake" video has arrived to entertain those of us with flickering attention spans.
Yesterday, a YouTube user by the name of Aldo Jones uploaded a deepfake video for Sony and Marvel's SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME that replaces Tom Holland with Tobey Maguire. As you can see from the image and video above, the result is both fascinating as well as frightening. To be perfectly honest, the deepfake fad has been going on for quite a while now, yet the videos included as a part of the trend never cease to amaze me. I honestly don't know how these creators do it. The mouth movements are so precise. Even the sight-lines are spot on. Are they simply taking existing footage and using it as a digital mask? Or are they actually manipulating the faces of these celebrities in some manner of Photoshop or Maya-like magic? If you've got answers, I want 'em.
Recently it was announced that SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME is returning to theaters this week with seven minutes of extra footage. That's 420 seconds of Spider-Man doing whatever a spider can to save the day from Jake Gyllenhaal's Quentin Beck aka Mysterio. That's seven more minutes of Peter Parker haplessly bumbling his way through a class trip across the pond. Are seven minutes worth purchasing another ticket to one of the highest-grossing Spider-Man movies in cinematic history? You'll have to decide that last bit for yourself, though I know plenty of people who are pumped to return to the theater for another go. If you do decide to indulge yourself, enjoy!