Nicolas Cage isn’t looking to adapt to the rise of AI in Hollywood anytime soon.
The Oscar winner spoke out against the technology during an interview with “The Orchid Thief” author Susan Orlean for The New Yorker. Orlean’s nonfiction book was the source material for Charlie Kaufman’s meta film “Adaptation,” with Cage portraying screenwriter Kaufman (and his fictional twin brother Donald) and Meryl Streep playing Orlean.
Cage explained to Orlean that, just after the interview, he had to undergo a “scan” for his upcoming Prime Video series “Noir,” in which Cage reprises his animated “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” webslinger role, this time in live-action. He revealed concerns about how that scan of his likeness could ultimately be further manipulated by artificial intelligence technology.
“They have to put me in a computer and match my eye color and change — I don’t know,” Cage said. “They’re just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital AI. God, I hope not AI. I’m terrified of that. I’ve been very vocal about it.”
The “Longlegs” actor continued, “It is [really scary]. And it makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artists end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where’s the heartbeat going to be? I mean, what are you going to do with my body and my face when I’m dead? I don’t want you to do anything with it!”
Late stars such as Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds, and Laurence Olivier — all part of the acting Golden Age that Cage told the New Yorker he admires — have been recently resurrected via AI audio company ElevenLabs. According to the AI company, their estates provided ElevenLabs legal permission to recreate the actors’ voices to narrate on the Reader App. Users can hear the deceased actors read books, articles, and essays. Garland’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, issued a statement in support of the venture.
