As technology continues to evolve worldwide and worm its way into industries like the movie-making business, leaders in the filmmaking landscape must remain vigilant. If they’re not careful, technologies like artificial intelligence can corrupt passion projects, tentpole franchises, and the overall enthusiasm for the art of filmmaking. We’ve seen how fans react when AI makes its way into movies and video games, with online boycotts, review bombing, and creator smear campaigns being just the tip of the iceberg. If you intend to use AI in your project, it’s best to be upfront about it, and that’s what Andy Serkis is trying to do while being open with fans about his upcoming Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum.
While Serkis is an advocate for using AI in the filmmaking process, he’s aware of how averse audiences still are to the technology and wants everyone to know that he’s taking precautions when using it to make his latest feature. “If we teach AI well, then it can help us across many industries,” Serkis told Variety. Still, he goes on to say that AI can’t – at least not right now – replicate the “authored performance” of motion capture.
Having worked on franchises like Planet of the Apes and The Lord of the Rings, Serkis is one of the best in the business at motion-capture technology. I once interviewed Serkis in person on the set of The War for the Planet of the Apes while he was wearing a full motion-capture suit. It was fascinating, and as we talked, he spoke openly about the art of motion-capture and its many benefits to the filmmaking process. Even then, Serkis advocated that the Oscars recognize motion capture as part of the acting categories at the annual awards ceremony. There’s been little movement on that endeavor, but Serkis continues to push the subject with those who will listen. When asked by Variety if he thinks the Academy will ever recognize motion capture work, Serkis replied, “I’ve never seen performance capture as anything other than an actor’s performance, because you doing everything that you would do to create a normal character on screen. When you act with someone who is wearing dots instead of prosthetic makeup, they’re still creating the character.”
While discussing AI, Variety asked whether the tech would play a significant role in making his Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum. While Serkis’s short answer is yes, he says they’re using the tool to de-age cast members and nothing more.
“Not at present, other than some of the de-aging,” Serkis told Variety about the intended use of AI in his Gollum movie. “There’s a little bit of de-aging for some of the characters and machine learning is part of the process. When you think about it, in the original Lord of the Rings films, Peter created MASSIVE, which was a program which allowed 1000s of orcs to all have their own individual mindset. So that is a brilliant example of an incredible use of AI. But we’re not creating AI shots in our movie, every shot is created in a traditional way. One of the things actually that I really wanted to do with this film was to bring back all of the great filmmaking skills, from miniatures to prosthetics and marry them up, because that’s my taste. I like it when you mix up different filmmaking techniques.”
While Serkis would not comment on who would be de-aged in the film, he did share his thoughts about AI possibly replacing actors in the future, saying, “So I don’t think you’ll be able to replace performance… not as yet. For small prompted moments, I think it stands up. But the whole notion of a script, from a to z, page one to 120 and the minutiae of actors’ decisions that author their characters, I don’t believe that that could be completely replaced.”
Are you cool with Andy Serkis using AI to de-age characters in The Hunt for Gollum? Should the Academy recognize motion capture actors in standard categories, or does motion capture require its own award? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.