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Nicolas Cage Urges Young Actors To Protect Themselves From AI (deadline.com)

(Monday October 21, 2024 @05:22PM (msmash) from the wise-words dept.)


Actor Nicolas Cage warned young performers about the dangers of AI in film production during his speech at the Newport Beach Film Festival on Sunday. Cage urged actors to [1]protect their craft from employment-based digital replica (EBDR) technology, which allows studios to manipulate performances post-filming. "This technology wants to take your instrument," Cage said. He explained that EBDR enables studios to alter actors' faces, voices, and body language after shooting, potentially compromising artistic integrity. Cage cited his cameo in "The Flash" as an example of EBDR use. He advised actors to consider their rights when approached with contracts permitting EBDR, coining the phrase "MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination."



[1] https://deadline.com/2024/10/nicolas-cage-ai-young-actors-protection-newport-1236121581/



His Imagination? (Score:3)

by Hodr ( 219920 )

"He advised actors to consider their rights when approached with contracts permitting EBDR, coining the phrase "MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination."

But actors are being paid for thttps://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl#heir voice, face, and body. Screen writers and directors are paid for their imagination.

You need to watch better movies (Score:4, Insightful)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

A good actor brings a completely different imagination to a role. Go look up John Hurt (the guy with the chest burster in Alien) playing the fool in King Leer. You'd hardly know it was him.

Re: (Score:2)

by colonslash ( 544210 )

A good director can do the same, with AI.

Re:You need to watch better movies (Score:4, Interesting)

by PPH ( 736903 )

This [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_in_rain_monologue [wikipedia.org] comes to mind.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_in_rain_monologue

Re: (Score:2)

by taustin ( 171655 )

Directors who do not actively encourage their actors to bring their own creativity to the role are hacks who produce crap movies. It isn't hard to find accounts of movie scenes, sometimes almost entire movies, that were adlibbed by actors (like Robin Williams, who was famous for having no real idea what the script said). It happens a lot .

Re: (Score:3)

by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 )

> Directors who do not actively encourage their actors to bring their own creativity to the role are hacks who produce crap movies.

To be fair, directors are also part of the creative process and are responsible for the work as a whole, not just the individual performer and both parts must work together to produce the final product. Having either the director or actors be too controlling or go off the rails isn't productive.

Re: (Score:2)

by Malay2bowman ( 10422660 )

So many big budget superhero movies are basically CGI animated cartoons at this point. But to the point, the actors need to read the contract thoroughly, or have a good lawyer to do it for them, and ask every question they can think of. And if they don't like the terms, then tell the studio to go pound sand and be done with it.

Numbered days (Score:2)

by Random361 ( 6742804 )

What Cage doesn't seem to recognize here is that eventually the technology is going to get to the point where we won't need actors in the first place. At that point the producers will just roll their own characters and not bother employing these people for their sometimes absurdly high salaries in the first place.

Not anytime soon (Score:3, Insightful)

by rsilvergun ( 571051 )

uncanny valley takes over. And those high salaries are there to create movie stars. Half the fun of Hollywood is the glitz and glamour of their lives. Take that away and you take away a major way folks interact with movie stars.

Re: (Score:2)

by KiloByte ( 825081 )

And that's a problem, how? Celebrity gossip doesn't depend on the celebrities actually doing something.

Re: (Score:3)

by ChunderDownunder ( 709234 )

What film producers don't appreciate is that when you take Nic Cage's gloriously hammy acting out of the equation, their AI-written scripts aren't worth the price of a download.

Maybe I need to touch grass but the only time I paid for a movie ticket in an actual cinema post-COVID was for a European film festival - Hollywood just doesn't market films for Gen-X kids any longer, except a bunch of pointless remakes.

(Red Rock West is still a classic, Cage fans.)

Re: (Score:2)

by DesScorp ( 410532 )

> What Cage doesn't seem to recognize here is that eventually the technology is going to get to the point where we won't need actors in the first place. At that point the producers will just roll their own characters and not bother employing these people for their sometimes absurdly high salaries in the first place.

It's just a matter of time before computers will be able to generate attractive looking AI-models that appeal perfectly to a desired demographic, making them so realistic that it'll be nearly impossible to tell they're fake. The process will go something like this:

Studio does extensive survey of what women want in actors, what they find attractive, in voice, build, mannerisms, etc.

Computers construct a completely unique model that meet all of the surveyed women's desires.

The model is then programed to "perf

Re: (Score:2)

by taustin ( 171655 )

The hardest advantage actors have to overcome will be that algorithms can't sign autographs.

Which is to say, that will take a little longer.

"Nicholas Cage: good or bad?" (Score:2)

by Pseudonymous Powers ( 4097097 )

Cage advised the younger generation of actors to confound possible computerized reproduction of their vocal and performative patterns by speaking at random pitches, volumes, cadences, and tones, and to alternate between barely moving and wildly flailing their limbs, for their entire career.

Be choosy in your roles (Score:2)

by BishopBerkeley ( 734647 )

Lest you become the butt of jokes. That might be better advice.

Strategy different for desirable star and the new (Score:3)

by drnb ( 2434720 )

The strategy of a desirable star won't work for a new actor. If a new actor demands EBDR rights then a different new actor who does not will be hired.

It is an interesting dilemma. What if EBDR based changes make an actor look bad?

Protect John Connor (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

That's the most important part.

Can I have fries with that? (Score:2)

by RockDoctor ( 15477 )

"MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination."

"I don't care - I want fries with my TrumpBurger, and extra lard. No, I don't want to read your script, just fill my goddamn order and shut up about how miserable your life is."

It's about characters, not actors (Score:2)

by Anonymous Cward ( 10374574 )

Repeat after me, Nic! Face off! Face... Off!

Why would a studio want to keep using samey actors faces when computer graphics is getting extremely close to doing realistic renders? In a decade at most, VFX artists will be employed as standard to design all principal characters faces, voices and other characteristics. The names of the leading actors themselves will become far less relevant compared with the effort needed to bring the characters they're portraying to life. AI won't replace them, they'll stil

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