Replace All Humans

As I write this an email just came through informing me that The Dry 2 has been delayed indefinitely until all the talent can promote the movie properly.

Currently things are getting apocalyptic in Hollywood as the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (Sag-Aftra) joins forces with the Writers Guild of America (WGA). These strikes mean press junkets in support of Summer blockbusters are going to be cancelled and work across the industry will grind to a halt until new contracts rewritten with streaming in mind can be hashed out. The strikes are also looking for assurances that AI or digital simulacrums of actors and writers won’t replace the real deal.

This last point seems to be a legitimate concern. Actors Union reps allege that Studio execs were already talking about being able to scan actors and use their likeness until the end of time. Dead and Senescing actors have already been resurrected and de-aged with CGI.

Bruce Willis has had to recently retire from acting due to aphasia affecting his acting ability. At around the same time a deepfake of him appeared in a Russian phone commercial. It was initially believed that he sold his likeness to earn some sort of ongoing royalties long after leaving the industry. But it turns out that his likeness was just bootlegged instead.

Who needs big talent when you can underpay a team of VFX kids instead.

Disney CEO Bob Iger also joked earlier this year that AI could replace him. “I’m looking forward to a time where maybe AI does earnings calls for me,” he said in a May earnings call.
“You wouldn’t know the difference perhaps… Maybe they’d be better. I don’t know.”

Hollywood hasn’t needed too much creativity to sell its big movies recently, soon it may not even need anyone at all to make those big dollars.