Bruce Willis Sells Rights to His Likeness to Deepfake Company
The retired actor acts on.
Earlier this year, Bruce Willis announced his retirement from acting following an aphasia diagnosis, a cognitive disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate.
But that hasn't stopped him from appearing on screen; the Die Hard star has sold the rights to use his likeness to deepfake firm, Deepcake, according to the Telegraph.
Deepcake, which makes "digital twins" of celebrities, has already superimposed Willis into an advertising project in Europe—likely a mobile phone campaign that ran in Russia.
In it, a younger-looking Willis is tied up alongside another man in a tux—both appearing to play the part of secret agent—as a bomb counts down.
"I liked the precision of my character. It's a great opportunity for me to go back in time," Willis said in a statement shared on Deepcake's website. He explained that the AI that recreated his likeness was trained using content from Die Hard and Fifth Element, allowing a former version of himself to take the stage once again.
"With the advent of the modern technology, I could communicate, work and participate in filming, even being on another continent. It's a brand new and interesting experience for me, and I grateful [sic] to our team."
There are naturally concerns about the use of deepfake technology, as it makes it easy to fool viewers into believing that the deepfaked individual is actually doing or saying what they appear to be, but it also opens up some pretty cool possibilities for actors to portray their younger selves, or to even bring back stars from old Hollywood into modern cinema.
When it's not being used with malicious intent, you have to admit it's pretty impressive.
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