This Robot Is Now the Lead Actress in a $70 Million Sci-Fi Movie
In the wake of COVID-19, a production company is using an AI robot to star in a feature film.
Named Erica, she will star in a movie where the story is close to how she was created.
She was taught specific acting methods in order to nail her part.
COVID-19 has caused an industry-wide filming halt for movies and television shows. But but one upcoming production might have figured out a workaround, at least for now—because it hired an Artificially Intelligent robot to be its primary star. So long, movie stars!
According to a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter, Bondit Media (known for financing movies such as To the Bone and Loving Vincent), Happy Moon Productions and Ten Ten Global Media are backing b, a $70 million science-fiction film. Producers are saying that this will be the first move to use an AI actor, which in this case is affectionately named Erica.
What would Erica’s role be exactly? Well, the story details a scientist who discovers that a mistake occurred while trying to create a program that would “perfect” human DNA, causing him to help Erica (aka the robot he built) escape his lab. And this would be in line with Erica’s original purpose, as Japanese scientists Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kohei Ogawa designed her to test human-computer interactions. Kind of sounds like a real-life version of Alex Garland's Ex Machina? (Ishiguro is particularly invested in the project, even going so far as to at one point creating an android that resembled his daughter).
Unlike human actors, who spend copious amounts of time studying and perfecting their roles while on set, Erica would only need to be programmed with the correct lines and movements for her performance.
“In other methods of acting, actors involve their own life experiences in the role,” producer Sam Khoze told THR about the development. “But Erica has no life experiences—she was created from scratch to play the role. We had to simulate her motions and emotions through one-on-one sessions, such as controlling the speed of her movements, talking through her feelings and coaching character development and body language.”
The sad thing is that you’ll have to wait until at least 2021 to see Erica in action. Although she did finish some scenes in Japan in 2019, a director still needs to be hired, along with some human co-stars. The good news? Producers hope that filming (which will take place in Europe) will conclude in June 2021, giving people the chance to see it sooner… if the COVID-19 pandemic ever actually ends.
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