Bruce Willis, who has stepped away from acting after a diagnosis of aphasia, recently became the first celebrity to sell the rights to his likeness to a deepfake firm, so that a “digital twin” of himself can be created for onscreen usage.
The actor sold the rights to his likeness to the Russian firm, Deepcake, according to a report by the Telegraph.
Using the deepfake technology, Willis was able to appear in a phone advertisement without ever being on set. The actor’s face was reportedly digitally transplanted onto another performer.
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“I liked the precision with which my character turned out,” Willis said in a statement. “It’s a mini-movie in my usual action-comedy genre. For me, it is a great opportunity to go back in time.”
“With the advent of modern technology, even when I was on another continent, I was able to communicate, work and participate in the filming,” the Die Hard star added. “It’s a very new and interesting experience, and I thank our entire team.”
While the terms haven’t been disclosed, advertising experts believe Willis was paid between $1 and $3 million for the use of his likeness, according to NowThis.
Deepcake CEO Maria Chmir said her comoany’s technology comes in handy when “you need to film a character that is unavailable for some reason,” whether the actor is “getting ill, taking part of another project,” or “just dead.”
Earlier this year, Willis’ family announced that the actor was diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech.
“Digital immortality paradigm seems very attractive not just to us, but to the market as a whole,” Chmir said, adding that her company is already receiving requests from Hollywood studios, European companies, and advertising companies for such projects.
Recently, Lucasfilm hired a prominent member of the online deepfake community who has received millions of views on his videos reworking faces in clips of Star Wars. Warner Bros. has also launched deepfake ads for a new movie that incorporates the viewer’s face into a clip of the movie.
“I suppose that in filmmaking in the future there will be a division,” the Deepcake CEO said. “There will be content created with the usage of digital people, digital replicas, i-replicas.”
Chmir also noted that the technology can be used to change an actor’s age, making them appear older or younger.
While some might be excited about the possibility for actors to continue appearing in films after they’re dead, others have expressed concerns over the technology being used to spread false information in political campaigns and elsewhere.
In June, the FBI said it has received multiple complaints of people using stolen information and AI-generated deepfake videos and voices to apply to remote tech jobs.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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