Synthetic Actors?

At the dawn of the use of digital effects in filmmaking, there was a small but vocal group of actors who fretted that this was the start of a sinister plot by studios to someday replace human performers with digital ones. The vast majority of their fellow actors dismissed this as nothing more than paranoia. Well, somewhere in Hollywood, those actors who were once labeled as paranoid are probably saying I told you so. Why? Orville Redenbacher has been raised from the dead.

Recently, a series of television commercials have featured the bowtie wearing, bespectacled magnate from Indiana who passed away more than a decade ago. Through a complex process using computer generated imagery, a fairly good simulation of the late Mr. Redenbacher can be seen touting his gourmet popcorn once again. However, the effect is not perfect. Most viewers will probably have the feeling that the face is not quite lively enough. In fact, some critics on the Internet have dubbed the character Orville Deadenbacher because of the somewhat stiff facial expressions. As they say in the world of technobabble, the process is not mature. Still, the fact remains that we are now tantalizingly close to being able to create people with realistic appearance; the holy grail of visual digital effects.

And while this new technological capability may strike fear into the hearts of the members of the Screen Actors Guild, it doesn’t take much imagination to see some of the possibilities that may come to pass as the technique is improved and coupled with software that can be fine tuned to mimic the movements of a particular individual. There could be new films featuring Humphrey Bogart, Gene Harlow or Cary Grant and perhaps even a sequel to Animal House featuring a digital doppelganger for John Belushi. Or how about a musical where Usher trades dance steps with Fred Astaire? And why should the technique be limited to actors? No doubt there are more than a few sports fanatics that would be willing to pay to see a digital dream match between Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, both in their prime. On the more mundane side, won’t it be great when they can digitally reshape the mouths of performers so that they actually look like they are saying the words of the foreign language into which their movie has been dubbed?

Over time the cost of the technology will drop. When it does, it will move into the hands of video game designers and amateur film makers. And an entirely new cycle of creative visions will be unleashed. When will this happen? Well, in the words of Bogart in the cinematic classic Casablanca, ”...maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon…” Probably sooner than anyone suspects.