Marvel/Star Wars: Samuel L. Jackson fears the use of artificial intelligences in Hollywood

“Every time we change our costume, we are scanned”, says the interpreter of Nick Fury, who does not want to see his image being used perpetually.

Samuel L.Jackson has been at the heart of a controversy related to artificial intelligence this week, since we learned that the opening credits of his series Marvel Secret Invasion was created by software, not artists. A shame for a show of such magnitude, produced with a substantial budget by the Disney studios.

The star of the show, interviewed by Rolling Stones about his long career at Marvel (he appeared at the beginning of the MCU, in 2008), explains there fear the normalization of the use of artificial intelligence in Hollywood. He’s not talking here about videos designed 100% by computer from a pre-established style, nor scenarios pre-written by software in the vein of ChatGPT to offer a first draft to the producers before hiring real screenwriters – a procedure which is also scandalous in these times of massive strike in Hollywood.

Jackson evokes here in particular the way in which the studios seek today to use the image of their actors ad infinitum: by scanning them for a role, they can then rejuvenate them on the screen, or even bring them back afterwards. the death of the actors in question.

These technologies and the moral questions they raise are nothing new: when he died in 2014, for example, it was discovered that Robin Williams had made it black and white in his will that he did not want his digital image be used for 25 years. Impossible for the studios to resurrect Madame Doubtfire for now, unlike Tarkin (Peter Cushing) In RogueOne or a very popular superhero In The Flash.

Other comedians expressed concern about the phenomenon before Jackson, as Donald Gloverfor example, whose body had been completely scanned at the time of playing in Solo: A Star Wars Story, for Disney. If the firm wants to bring back young Lando Calrissian in the future, it won’t even need to call on him!

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“People are just starting to be afraid of this? I’ve wondered about this for a long time, replies Samuel L. Jackson. The first time I was scanned by George Lucas (for the prequels of Star Warseditor’s note)I was wondering : ‘What’s this thing going to do?’ George and I are good buddies, so we laughed about it at the time. I thought that since he had brought together a lot of old comedians in Episode Ihe wanted to insure the shot if something happened to one of them, and that he could still include them in the film.

Since I’ve been part of the MCU, every time we change costumes, we are scanned. When I turned Captain Marvelthey were using this technology from Lola to rejuvenate me, and I said to myself: ‘Well, I guess they can reuse all that when they want.’

It’s something to worry about, yes. Young actors should do what I impose on every contract signing: when I see the words ‘perpetually’ Or ‘known and unknown’, I put a cross to indicate that I do not agree. This is my way of saying: ‘No, I don’t approve of all that.’“

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Recently, another leading Hollywood comedian expressed his fears regarding the use of the digital image of actors in today’s cinema: Tom Hanks.

“I can tell you that there are discussions going on right now about this within all the unions, all the star agencies, and all the law firms, told the star of Forrest Gump during Adam Buxton’s podcast. To define to what extent we can use my face and my voice – and those of everyone else, of course. We try to ensure that it is considered part of our intellectual property.

If I wanted to, today, I could be hired on a series of seven films in which I would be seen 32 years older. See more. Anyone today is able to digitally recreate themselves at any age thanks to artificial intelligence, deep fakes, all these technologies. I could get run over by a bus tomorrow, it would be over, but my performance could go on and on. Beyond understanding what is right or wrong, there will be nothing that will tell you that this game was mine and mine alone, because it will have a certain quality of imitation.”