Mark Hamill says his opinion on AI actors

Los Angeles, Oct 11 (IANS) Hollywood actor Mark Hamill has been in the industry for nearly five decades, and is speaking from his experience about the usage of “AI actors” in cinema, something that could change the way how industry functions.

The actor raised some important questions over the usage of AI and its ethical implications, reports ‘Variety’.

Asked about Tilly Norwood, the AI-generated actress reportedly in talks to be signed by talent agencies, he said, “It’s terrifying. After I pass away, are they going to go to my family and say, ‘We’ll pay you all this money so we can do him at age 28’ or whatever they do?”.

He compared the development to ads featuring deceased performers, such as Gene Kelly, as he said, “Would Gene have wanted to be a spokesman for a vacuum cleaner? I don’t know. It’s too many unanswered questions”.

As per ‘Variety’, he also spoke about his role in Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Life of Chuck’, which won the Toronto International Film Festival Audience Award in 2024 before being acquired by Neon.

The actor insisted he’s still learning to disappear. He shared, “The definition of a character actor is an actor that disappears, and you see only the character”.

In Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, Hamill plays an aging accountant, an intimate and surprising departure from the larger-than-life characters that made him famous, such as Luke Skywalker from the ‘Star Wars’ series. The film, which stars Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan, explores memory, mortality and the marks we leave behind.

Before playing accountants and voicing cartoon villains, Hamill kept one of Hollywood’s biggest secrets. While filming ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ in 1978, director Irvin Kershner pulled the actor aside with news of a script change.

“‘I’m going to tell you something. I know it. George Lucas knows it, and when I tell you, you’ll know it’”, Hamill recalled Kershner saying. “So, if it leaks, we’ll know it’s you”.

The original script had Darth Vader telling Luke Skywalker that Obi-Wan Kenobi killed his father. But Kershner revealed the new line, “I am your father”.

The actor said, “The hard part was I had to keep that secret for over a year and a half”. He kept it so well that Harrison Ford, sitting in front of him at the premiere screening, turned around and said, “You didn’t even tell me”.

--IANS

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