Hollywood will whine, threaten, complain, and warn over the dangers of AI until the end of time, but it’s all bullshit. AI will not only deliver a much less expensive way to create entertainment in the future, it will also allow Americans (especially Boomers) do what they like best — hold on forever to the past.
This is how silly and futile opposition to AI is…
While one of the crybaby guilds is putting Oscar-winning legend Martin Scorsese through a struggle session for using AI (instead of a unionized employee) for something as anodyne as creating storyboards, Netflix just brought The Mighty Gene Wilder “back to life” so he can once again play Willy Wonka.
Variety reports:
It’s an AI-fueled return to the Chocolate Factory. Netflix has partnered with the AI audio firm ElevenLabs to recreate the voice of actor Gene Wilder, who originated the character’s live-action look in 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and who died in 2016, for its new unscripted reality show “Wonka’s The Golden Ticket.”
The show, which premieres on Sept. 23 and is produced by Eureka Productions, will see 12 “Golden Ticket” winners and their selected partners enter a version of Wonka‘s Chocolate Factory to compete in a series of games over nine episodes inspired by the film and Roald Dahl’s “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.” Netflix promises the show’s one winner will leave with “Wonka’s life-changing prize.” (No word on a lifetime supply of chocolate.)
Whining about AI storyboarding while the world’s biggest studio brings an actor “back to life” to play a role in a major Netflix production…
Talk about closing the barn door after the cow’s already escaped!
Sorry, y’all, this is the future.
It doesn’t matter that Johnny Depp and Timothee Chalamet have also played Willy Wonka.
It doesn’t matter that thousands of actors would surrender a kidney to play this role.
It doesn’t matter because Gene Wilder is the genius who made the role iconic. He’s also an actor who never insulted his fans and therefore remains — ten years after his death — beloved and shrouded in goodwill. Above all, we miss him and want him back.
Well, through the magic of AI, Gene Wilder is back, and movies are all about magic, so you can expect a whole lot more of this.
Once the money gets real for the estates and surviving stars… once Hollywood realizes it can hire a long-dead legend still beloved by the public, like Burt Reynolds or Marilyn Monroe… once the studios figure out that a beloved AI actor will not pull a Rachel Zegler or Milly Alcock whose big mouths destroy hundreds of millions of dollars in hard work… once directors realize AI will allow them to fully realize their vision at a good price without on-set arguments with temperamental actors… there is NO STOPPING THIS.
Almost 50 years after his death, John Wayne is still one of the most popular actors in America. Why shouldn’t the John Wayne Estate make a ton of money keeping his legacy alive with more John Wayne movies?
I love everything about AI, and because I’m not stupid, I have no concerns about it becoming sentient.
Instead of some asshole actor who hates us, Gene Wilder is back playing Willy Wonka!
Only a Luddite wouldn’t be overjoyed by that news.