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How AI is bringing film stars back from the dead (www.bbc.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[James] Dean has been cast as the star in a new, upcoming movie called Back to Eden.

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[–] 38 points 3 years ago (11 children)

Damn, I wonder if people will have to include something in their wills against their likeness being used like this. Imagine your descendents selling the rights to your likeness and it being used to promote views you disagree with, capitalising on the reputation you had before your death.

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  • [–] 18 points 3 years ago

    There's already a thing called "likeness rights" that actors have. Presumably the filmmakers in this case made a deal with whoever inherited those rights when James Dean died.

    The article has a bit on this:

    In general, when a celebrity dies, "rights to publicity" pass on from the celebrity to next of kin, or to the party granted these rights in a will. But Kahn says even a will, which will usually dictate who will benefit financially from the commercial use of the dead celebrity's image and likeness, holds limited legal weight since "it's not like a contract because it's a one-way document". The power for how that person's image is used passes to their living executor.

    People need to realize that dead people do not have rights, only living people have rights. A dead person can't go to court.

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  • [–] 7 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    According to the articles, even putting something specific in your will won't actually prevent it under the current laws.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    That's hilariously wrong.

    Dear H. Ford,

    We are sorry to hear that you would like to stay dead. But here at Disney we just love this dying wish for you, your gunna be in India Jones 12. And 13... And....21... And......

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  • [–] 5 points 3 years ago

    But Kahn says even a will, which will usually dictate who will benefit financially from the commercial use of the dead celebrity's image and likeness, holds limited legal weight since "it's not like a contract because it's a one-way document". The power for how that person's image is used passes to their living executor.

    If Harrison Ford dies his next of kin inherit his rights to his image and likeness. Even if his will expressly states that they're not allowed to license those rights, there are ways to contest the will in court and those restrictions don't last in perpetuity. The article says Robin Williams' restrictions expire after 25 years, for example. Don't know offhand if that's a legal standard or something specific to that will but I do know that there's a "rule against perpetuities" in most legal jurisdictions that can be used to invalidate a will if it places restrictions on a property that last too long.

    James Dean died 68 years ago.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Robin Williams did that exact thing with Disney in his Aladdin contract

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago* (1 child)

    Well, toys less than actual computerized doppelganger. But all the same. Who's gonna call out The Mouse?

    One remaining spark of light in this, I don't think an AI or indeed most writers could mimic anything like the frantic ad-libbing he was known and loved for. But I do think he was loved enough that 98% of the populace would see that movie just to see "him" in something again.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 years ago

    I don't think an AI or indeed most writers could mimic anything like the frantic ad-libbing he was known and loved for.

    I'm not convinced. If you trained a model on all of his performances and scripts, I think it could generate something that could fool most people. Not everything it generates would be terrific, but even if only 1% is good, you just cut out all the rest.

    And that's at the current state of tech.

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