For director Doug Liman and producer Ryan Kavanaugh’s upcoming Bitcoin biopic, a UK casting notice reveals that the indie film may use AI to “adjust” some performances. Actors will also perform on a “anywhere markerless performative capture stage using new Al technology.”
The casting notice tells the actors that the film’s producers reserve the right to “alter, add to, capture, translate, reformat, or reprocess” their performances, including adjusting lip, facial, and body movements using “generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and/or machine learning technology.” It confirms that AI will not be used to create a “recognizable and identifiable digital replica” of an actor’s voice or likeness without “prior written consent”.
Producer Ryan Kavanaugh said in a statement: variety: “We very carefully, sensitively, over-protected our actors to only use performance capture AI. That means we don’t use non-existent actors that are generated by AI. AI is a tool that we’re using to make the filmmaking process more efficient, while preserving the jobs of all the department heads and the jobs of all the actors, and hopefully contributing to the positive growth of the industry.”
The casting notice also states that performers who agree to appear in the film “are aware that they may share scenes with AI-generated performers.” However, a source close to the film says: variety References to AI actors were included in the casting notice by mistake, and Tilly Norwood-esque creations would not be used in the film.
A production official said it was “not accurate.” “All the actors in this movie are [real] Actors acting… We couldn’t create a fully AI actor to the specifications needed for the movie. ”
The source confirmed that “Killing Satoshi” will not be shot on location, the backgrounds and scenery will be created entirely using AI, and that AI will be used to fine-tune actors’ performances when necessary in lieu of reshoots. “You’re never going to be told something they didn’t say, but let’s say the way they said it in motion wasn’t perfect. There’s no need to reshoot it. We just use AI to make it look better.”
The actor issue raised by the revelation of the “Killing Satoshi” casting notice goes squarely to the heart of the compensation and consent debate that is winding its way through copyright infringement lawsuits in federal court and union contract negotiations, especially in the creative industries. SAG-AFTRA, which began negotiating film and television deals with major studios and streamers on February 9, is deeply concerned about where to draw the line when it comes to reusing and repurposing existing material. The issue of “synthetic” acting and human labor is accelerating efforts by SAG-AFTRA and other unions to find contractual and legislative means to achieve protection of actors’ names, images, and likenesses at all levels of the industry.
Production on “Killing Satoshi” will begin soon in the UK, and a casting notice is seeking supporting actors to appear in the film from the end of this month until March. as variety The film, which was released exclusively last year, marks Davidson and Affleck’s top billing for the film about the mysterious Bitcoin creator who, under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, sparked the decentralized finance cryptocurrency revolution with his 2008 white paper. For the digital generation, the search for Nakamoto’s identity has become what the search for Deep Throat was for the Watergate generation. It has been the subject of countless books, articles, documentaries, and Reddit threads.
“Killing Satoshi” is being financed through Kavanaugh’s production company Proxima and Aperture Media Partners. Gran Torino screenwriter Nick Schenk wrote the script. Dixie Chassay has been cast in the project.
