Nicolas Cage Sounds Alarm on AI's Impact in Film Industry, Urging Actors to Protect Their Craft

Cage rage: How AI still divides actors and studios

A bruising months-long Hollywood strike helped secure actors and writers some protection from AI, but a year after those ructions studios and creatives are still divided on the tech. Hollywood royalty Nicolas Cage has labeled AI a "nightmare" in the past and renewed his attack on Sunday, particularly on the use of "digital replicas" of actors -- a practice permitted under the deal that ended the strike. "The studios want this so that they can change your face after you've already shot it," Cage said at the Newport Beach Film Festival in comments reported in US media. "They can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance." Cage likened actors to members of a band and said "this technology wants to take your instrument". Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in the south of France at a TV industry gathering this week, the attitude was starkly different. Marianne Carpentier of French company Newen Studios told the Mipcom trade show in Cannes that she had her first "wow" moment with AI when it was drafted in to generate the face of a sick actor. "It was really amazing... It was cheap, it was efficient and we couldn't see on screen the difference with the real [actors]," she said. The AI boom has seen astronomical valuations and investments in the sector. Companies now need to justify the investment and they still see profits to be made in Hollywood even after the strike. 'Give me a blockbuster' Last week, Meta announced a partnership with horror film production company Blumhouse, whose credits include "Get Out" as well franchises like "Paranormal Activity". The firm's filmmakers are experimenting with Movie Gen, Meta's new video tool that can generate short videos from simple prompts or pictures -- or add to existing videos. Industry behemoth OpenAI is expected to launch its video tool Sora soon, and there are plenty of other video tools on the market. Social media is flooded with people claiming to have generated a "movie" with AI. But these "movies" are stitched-together clips with no story or consistency of style. Even Meta's tool, which is not yet available to the public, can only generate 16-second clips. Emily Golden of Runway AI said for her the goal was not to have AI-generated movies. "There's a common misconception that you're going to be able to type in 'give me a Hollywood blockbuster'. Enter," she told Mipcom. "You can't. And that's not the world we're building towards." Hordes of orcs The technology has been bleeding into Hollywood in more subtle ways since before AI was known as AI. Back in the 2000s, special effects pioneers created a tool to generate hordes of orcs, elves and other Middle Earth dwellers for the mass battles of the "Lord of the Rings" blockbuster trilogy. Actors have been given life after death, as in the case of Peter Cushing, who appeared in 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" despite having died in 1994. Cushing's voice was AI-generated, while his image was created using traditional CGI. Since then, actors from Harrison Ford to Robert de Niro have been dramatically de-aged with techniques mixing AI and CGI. But there have been bumps in the road -- Star Wars producer Disney is being sued over its use of Cushing's likeness. And Cage is not the only actor to rail against AI. Scarlett Johansson publicly rebuked OpenAI for using her voice -- or one that sounded very similar -- for one of their chatbots. And last week, Julianne Moore added her name to a list of thousands who labeled the unlicensed use of material to train AI models "an unjust threat to the livelihoods" of creatives. Nevertheless, industry figures at Mipcom waxed about how AI could now be used to generate an aerial tracking shot from just a simple photo, or a "mood board" from a text prompt. They outlined a benign vision of an industry slowly reaping the reward of innovation, contrasting with the frequent promises from Silicon Valley that world-shattering tech is just around the corner. But some at Mipcom did let themselves run with darker speculation. "Will it take jobs? You betcha," Jonathan Verk of US tech firm Social Department told the audience. "But this is good news for us because there'll be a lot of people at home with nothing to do. They're going to need more shows, more content, more stuff to watch." And AI will be there to help create and monetize that content, he said. Some in the audience stifled awkward laughs, most listened in silence. It was not clear if he was joking.

Nicolas Cage takes aim at AI use in the film industry: "This technology wants to take your instrument"

The Longlegs star cautioned young actors against the rise of artificial intelligence. The concern of artificial intelligence and its impact on the entertainment world has become increasingly apparent as of late. For the games area, this has included voice actors striking for protection against AI use, and for the film world, AI's incorporation was one of the main reasons for the lengthy Hollywood strikes recently. Despite deals and agreements being put in place, Nicolas Cage is still hesitant and concerned about AI in the movie industry, something he voiced his opinions on recently during a speech at the 25th Newport Beach Film Festival. As per Deadline, Cage stated: "There is a new technology in town. It's a technology that I didn't have to contend with for 42 years until recently. But these 10 young actors, this generation, most certainly will be, and they are calling it EBDR. This technology wants to take your instrument. We are the instruments as film actors. We are not hiding behind guitars and drums." He continues, "The studios want this so that they can change your face after you've already shot it -- they can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance." Before adding, "I'm asking you, if you're approached by a studio to sign a contract, permitting them to use EBDR on your performance, I want you to consider what I am calling MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination -- my performance, in response. Protect your instrument." Cage is also one of many actors that has experienced AI impacting his career, as his likeness was used in The Flash when he popped up briefly as Superman. Do you agree with Cage's comments and that young stars need to be more cautious with contracts and how AI is being used in film?

Nicolas Cage Warns Actors That AI 'Wants to Take Your Instrument' - Decrypt

"Longlegs" star Nicolas Cage took aim at the use of AI and "employment-based digital replicas" (EBDR) to manipulate actors' performances, according to film industry trade publication Deadline. Speaking at the 25th Newport Beach Film Festival, Cage described EBDR as "a new technology in town," warning up-and-coming young actors that the technology "wants to take your instrument." Cage said, "We are the instruments as film actors. We are not hiding behind guitars and drums." Under a 2023 agreement struck between actors' union SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, studios are permitted to create two types of "digital replicas" of real actors, which can involve the use of generative AI. Employment based digital replicas (EBDRs) are those made with the actor's participation, such as Harrison Ford's "de-aged" Indiana Jones in 2023's "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." Independently created digital replicas (ICDRs) are those made without the direct involvement of the original actor, and are often created using archival footage, such as Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia in the "Star Wars" film "The Rise of Skywalker." "The studios want this so that they can change your face after you've already shot it," Cage said, adding that, "They can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance." He pointed to his cameo appearance as Superman in 2023's "The Flash" as an example of EBDR. In a 2023 interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Cage said that his performance in the film had been altered, and was "not what I did." In the recording session, he said, he'd played the role as "bearing witness [to] the end of a universe," whereas in the finished film, his Superman was depicted fighting a giant spider. AI, he said, is "a nightmare to me." He added: "It's inhumane. You can't get more inhumane than artificial intelligence." Speaking at the Newport Beach Film Festival, Cage said, "I'm asking you, if you're approached by a studio to sign a contract, permitting them to use EBDR on your performance, I want you to consider what I am calling MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination -- my performance, in response." Although SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement with motion picture producers in 2023 over the use of generative AI in film productions, the union is currently striking over the use of artificial intelligence in video game productions. SAG-AFTRA Chief Contract Officer Ray Rodriguez told Decrypt in August 2024 that "there are multiple open issues on the subject of AI" in the video game industry, with sticking points including the extent to which protections apply to on-camera performers as well as voice artists.

Nicolas Cage Warns Young Actors About AI

"This technology wants to take your instrument. We are the instruments as film actors." Nicolas Cage has some practical advice to young actors about artificial intelligence. Speaking at the 25th Newport Beach Film Festival on Sunday, the "Longlegs" star warned up-and-comers not to let their performances be manipulated with AI to create "employment based digital replicas" (EBDRs) -- and no, not even in the limited terms described by new protections against the tech. "There is a new technology in town. It's a technology that I didn't have to contend with for 42 years until recently," Cage said referring to EBDRs, as quoted by Deadline. "This technology wants to take your instrument," he continued. "We are the instruments as film actors. We are not hiding behind guitars and drums." EBDRs are one of two types of digital replicas described in the groundbreaking deal struck between actors and movie studios following the conclusion of the SAG-AFTRA strike last year. Whereas "independently created digital replicas" allow for the creation of entire (potentially AI) clones of an actor without their participation, EBDRs only work with the performer's physical involvement for a specific project -- like, for example, the AI de-aging of an actor's face. According to Cage, however, even that limited use is ceding too much control to studios. "The studios want this so that they can change your face after you've already shot it -- they can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance," Cage said. In face of this threat, he offered a new creed for actors to abide by. "I'm asking you, if you're approached by a studio to sign a contract, permitting them to use EBDR on your performance, I want you to consider what I am calling MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination -- my performance, in response," Cage said. "Protect your instrument." The self-styled practitioner of Nouveau Shamanic and Western Kabuki, of course, speaks from experience. In a 2023 interview with Yahoo Entertainment in which he described AI as a "nightmare" and "inhumane," Cage bemoaned his brief appearance as Superman in last year's "The Flash," because it turned out to be way different from what he actually filmed thanks to digital manipulation. In general, Cage has had the transformative tech on the brain as much as any of us. Speaking to The New Yorker in July, he described how he was "terrified" of AI, fearing the implications it could have for artists -- and for his legacy. "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!" he told the magazine. You tell 'em, Nic. With major studios capitulating to the tech, these kinds of anxieties are becoming more exigent than ever.