Latest news with #AcademyofMotionPictureArtsandSciences
a day ago
- Entertainment
Director Miike Takashi's 'Sham' Explores the Line Between Truth and Lies
At the Movies The director Miike Takashi is known for the breadth of his works, including over-the-top yakuza violence, samurai period pieces, adaptations of manga and video games, and children's movies. In this interview he discusses his newest film, the 2025 Sham, an exploration of family torment, media influence, and the nature of the truth. Film director. Born in 1960 in Osaka. Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Represented by Creative Artists Agency. Studied at the Yokohama Broadcasting and Film College (now the Japan Institute of the Moving Image) and made his directorial debut in 1991 with a video production. His Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) and 13 Assassins (2010) were tapped for the Competition section of the Venice International Film Festival, and Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011) and Shield of Straw (2013) were selected for the Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, earning high acclaim internationally. A teacher walks through the pouring rain late at night to visit a student's guardian. The beautiful mother welcomes him politely and serves coffee. The teacher is there to discuss his student, the woman's son, who is causing problems in class. During their conversation, the mother reveals that the boy has roots outside of Japan, and the teacher comes to believe that what he has seen as problem behavior stems from his not being 'pure Japanese.' From then on, the teacher begins saying discriminatory things, becomes aggressive, and eventually escalates to physical violence. The mother's anxiety grows as tensions with the teacher build. Elementary school teacher Yabushita, played by Ayano Gō, is accused of abusing Takuto, played by Miura Kira. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) Thus opens Sham, a new film from director Miike Takashi. The question becomes, how much of this is true? And does truth ultimately depend on who is telling the story? Miike is quick to sow such doubt in the audience's mind. Miike is one of the most globally famous directors working in Japan today and is widely known for scenes of extreme violence and audacious works that defy genre convention. Many consider Audition, Ichi the Killer, and 13 Assassins to be his most identifiable works, but he has had a hand in over 100 films altogether. The variety is huge, from comedies and musicals to horror and action. It might be difficult to find a genre he hasn't tried. Ritsuko, played by Shibasaki Kō, insists her son is facing at the hands of his teacher. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) The Gap Between Media and Reality Miike's target this time is an unusual one for him, a social drama. The work weaves together various topics always on the minds of the Japanese public: the halls of education, bullying and PTSD, overbearing parents, and the role of the news media. The background of this is a real case that happened in Fukuoka in 2003, but Miike himself is reluctant to say it is 'based on a true story.' He is careful to draw a hard line between 'truth' and 'film' and not seek to cross it. 'I read the book about this case [Fukuda Masumi's 2007 Detchiage: Fukuoka satsujin kyōshi jiken no shinsō (Fabrication: Digging Deep into Fukuoka's Killer Teacher)]. It was fascinating. I was only able to make the film because of that reportage. When you try to make a movie based on a true story, it takes years. You need to do interviews with the real-life people the characters are modeled on to put their story together, and to make sure all of them are on board with what you're doing in your film, if they're still alive. And if we tried to do all that ourselves, we just wouldn't have had the time.' (© Hanai Tomoko) It is no surprise to hear Miike talk about the limits of time when discussing movie making. From his big-screen debut in 1995, he has produced work at an astonishing pace. It is not unusual for him to work on three or four projects in a single year. Of course, he always focuses on maintaining his professional quality. There surely can't be many directors in the world who can follow suit. Sham revolves around a story told by Takuto's parents about how his elementary school teacher Yabushita begins verbally, and then physically, abusing their son in class. They insist that their son has shown physical injury and symptoms of PTSD. Takuto's mother, Ritsuko, contacts tabloid reporter Narumi, played by Kamenashi Kazuya. The reporter immediately smells a story and begins hounding Yabushita. Narumi's reporting ends up shaping public opinion in deciding exactly what happened and who was at fault. Tabloid journalist Narumi reveals Yabushita's name and openly accuses him of physical abuse of a student. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) 'Perhaps the media isn't the only problem,' says Miike. 'It's the consumer side that takes in the information and creates that kind of atmosphere. The media's job is to report information. And tabloids try to sell magazines by taking a sensationalist approach. From the media and business perspective, that's somewhat unavoidable, in a sense. These days in particular, we're all flooded with information through social media and everything, so our interest jumps from thing to thing, and we can end up harming people without even being aware of it. So, I don't think the problem is solely on the media's side. That's something I found interesting in reading the source material for this one.' Master Actors Miike chose a quiet tone to tell such a weighty story, resulting in a work that stands in stark opposition to the blood drenched, breathtaking tempo of his most famous works. At the same time, this work is not without fearfulness. It brings a hefty dose of the terrifying nature of humans, based firmly in reality. The boy and his parents sue the city of Fukuoka and the teacher, ending up with the backing of a legal team some 500 strong. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) The work avoids any sensationalized production, and there is no hint of humor to offer an escape for the audience. Viewers have no choice but to face head-on the merciless brutality of humanity. On top of that, the pitch-perfect performances from the cast keep the eye nailed to the screen for the film's two-hour-plus running time. Miike says: 'I try to create scenes dispassionately, without pushing any specific idea. I don't use music to create mood, either. It's the same with the acting. It's like, that kind of pressure would probably make someone cry in that way. I want to give the actors space to perform, but I try to keep them reserved, performing without excessive passion, what you'd call enthusiastic performance.' (© Hanai Tomoko) The two lead actors offer up performances that are like a dance between two masters, maintaining a perfect distance. Shibasaki Kō, playing the mother of the allegedly abused boy, can change the feeling of a scene by a simple change of expression. Even amidst such a restrained performance, the wealth of expression she brings is impressive. And her opposite, the teacher played by Ayano Gō, only raises the level. The intense humanity of his actions and the depth of his emotions offer a powerful contrast to Shibasaki's reserved acting. This is Shibasaki Kō's third time working with Miike. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) Miike explains his hands-off approach to handling his performers. 'As actors, everything they do gets scrutiny from the media. Surely they feel more isolated from the world than anyone. And even so, they are strong enough to stand on their own two feet and perform in front of the public. I think there was probably a part of them that understood the roles because of that. If you overexplain things to actors with words, there's a danger of their overacting, but with these two it just came naturally.' The whole cast, particularly Kamenashi Kazuya as the reporter and Kobayashi Kaoru as a lawyer, offer outstanding performances that serve as the icing on an already excellent cake. Lawyer Yugamidani, played by Kobayashi Kaoru, takes over Yabushita's case. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) The Global Reach of Local Focus Despite the quality of the finished work, though, it might well be that Miike fans overseas will struggle to understand this film due to the Japanese values and norms working in the background. The act of apologizing just as a way of making a problem disappear—something that takes the case in an irreversible direction in the film—could be called a truly Japanese approach to problem solving. That development could well be stressful to watch for audiences outside Japan. 'When you're trying to share information widely, the tendency is usually to aim for global accessibility. But with films, even the most extreme stories seem to somehow come across. Even some story about a shoplifting family found a proper audience overseas,' laughs Miike, referring to Koreeda Hirokazu's 2018 Shoplifters. 'Under normal circumstances, you know, they'd have no idea how these people live or what they're thinking about. But even without understanding that, there's a sense of reality that somehow resonates with people. In the truest sense, aren't the pieces that truly work globally the ones that narrow in on a target, and end up local? I think people outside Japan who watch this film will likely end up confused. But that's fate. I won't change the piece for that.' Yabushita is compelled to apologize in front of parents at a public meeting. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) The director's mention of Shoplifters, calls to mind another Koreeda work. It is impossible to watch Sham and not be reminded of the 2023 Monster. Both films deal with abuse in schools, and both explore shifts in what 'truth' is based on who tells the story. However, pointing out such connections is somewhat simplistic. Personally, I feel a better comparison is found in Miike's own 2011 work Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai. Based on the same source material as director Kobayashi Masaki's 1962 film Harakiri, it was highlighted by a gorgeous score by Sakamoto Ryūichi and premiered as the first-ever 3D work at the Cannes Film Festival. Yabushita's only salvation is the support of his wife, Nozomi, played by Kimura Fumino. (© 2007 Fukuda Masumi/Shinchōsha © 2025 Sham Production Committee) Sham resembles that period drama both in structure, tone, and the anxiety it creates in its audience. Hara-Kiri and Sham are also similar in their restrained violence and lack of any ghosts or other supernatural elements. However, that same fearful space is occupied by the extreme brutality of human existence. Isn't that what scares us all the most? True film fans should set aside any preconceptions formed after watching Miike's past outings. It may not offer shocks like the 2001 Ichi the Killer, which famously had sick bags for the audience when screened at the Toronto International Film Festival that year. But this film is a uniquely 'Miike-esque' experience like none before. (© Hanai Tomoko) Trailer (Japanese)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Oscars: Lynette Howell Taylor Elected President of Film Academy
As The Hollywood Reporter recently forecasted, Lynette Howell Taylor, an Oscar-nominated film producer, was elected the 37th president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences through a vote of the organization's board of governors on Thursday. She succeeds Janet Yang, a fellow producer who held the job for the past three years, but was forced by term limits to step away from the board for at least the next two. Howell Taylor, 46, who was born in Liverpool, England, is the youngest person in 70 years (since George Seaton took office at 44) and the first person born outside of the U.S. in 28 years (since Canadian Arthur Hiller) to serve as Academy president. More from The Hollywood Reporter Korean Powerhouse CJ ENM Teams With Janet Yang, Miky Lee and Dominic Ng for Asian Storytelling Venture Film Academy's Longtime Theater Manager Richard Stermer Is Retiring (Exclusive) The Family Feud Over An Iconic Oscar Five other governors were also tapped for officer positions: composer Lesley Barber was re-elected as vice president (chair, membership committee); producer Jennifer Fox was elected vice president (chair, awards committee); documentarian Simon Kilmurry was elected vice president/treasurer (chair, finance committee); actor Lou Diamond Phillips was elected vice president (chair, equity and inclusion committee); and writer Howard A. Rodman was re-elected vice president/secretary (chair, governance committee). 'Lynette has been a vital part of the Academy board of governors for many years, most recently revitalizing our awards work as chair of the board's Awards Committee,' Academy CEO Bill Kramer said in a statement. 'I so look forward to working with her as our new Academy president, as well as with these incredibly dedicated and strategic board officers. This is an exceptional group of Academy members who will advance the Academy's mission, support our membership around the world, ensure our long-term financial stability, and celebrate the achievements of the global filmmaking community.' Howell Taylor began her career in the theater. Since moving to Hollywood at 22, she has accumulated dozens of film credits. Among them are acclaimed indies (such as 2006's Half Nelson, 2010's Blue Valentine and 2016's Captain Fantastic) and studio films (including 2018's A Star Is Born, for which she received a best picture Oscar nom, and The Accountant 2, a hit earlier this year). She joined the Academy in 2014, and was recruited to produce the 2020 Oscars telecast with Stephanie Allain. She was elected to the board of governors for the first time later that same year, and has served on it for the last five years. In each of the last three years, she was chosen by the board to serve as its vice president, overseeing its powerful awards committee, which is integrally involved with the planning of all aspects of the Oscars ceremonies. And in each of those years, the telecast's ratings have ticked up. Howell Taylor certainly has a full plate: she and her husband, Fifth Season (formerly Endeavor Content) co-CEO Graham Taylor, are the parents of three young kids; the family recently lost its home in the Pacific Palisades wildfire; and she has a high-profile film, Derek Cianfrance's Roofman, starring Channing Tatum, coming out later this year. But the new president is known to be indefatigable and is already familiar with the inner workings of the Academy and the Oscars, so she is expected to be able to hit the ground running. Plus, she is only able to remain on the board and to serve as president for this coming year before running up against the same term limit as Yang. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best Solve the daily Crossword
See - Sada Elbalad
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Fathy Abdel Wahab to Guest Star in Film "Al Set Lama"
Yara Sameh Egyptian actor, Fathy Abdel Wahab will guest star in veteran actress Yousra's upcoming light comedy film "Al Set Lama". The pic boasts a cast that includes Maged El Masry, Amr Abdul Gelil, Ahmad Seyam, Dorra, Rania Mansour, Yasmin Raeis, Donia Sami, Entsar, and more. Khaled Abu Ghraib directs from a script by Kiro Ayman and Mohamed Badawy. The pic is produced by Rana and Nada El Sobky. Principal photography is underway. Yousra made her last appearance on the big screen in the the romance-action film ' Shaqo ' (Brothers). The cast also includes Amr Youssef, Mohamed Mamdouh, Dina El Sherbiny, Amina Khalil, Abbas Abul-Hassan, Mohamed Gomaa, Walid Fawaz, and more. The star-studded film is scripted by Wissam Sabri, helmed by Karim El Sobky, and produced by Ahmed El Sobky. "Shaqo" debuted in the Eid Al-Fitr movie marathon. Yousra, born on March 10, 1955, is an actress, a singer, a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The iconic cinematic legend is one of the most recognizable names in the region and has been gracing the silver screen for more than 50 years. Since the 1970s, Yousra has starred in some of the most important films in the history of Egyptian cinema, appearing in over 100 films. Her roles in films and TV series continue to influence and inspire generations to this day. read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters Arts & Culture "Jurassic World Rebirth" Gets Streaming Date News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia Business Egyptian Pound Undervalued by 30%, Says Goldman Sachs Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Arts & Culture South Korean Actress Kang Seo-ha Dies at 31 after Cancer Battle Arts & Culture Lebanese Media: Fayrouz Collapses after Death of Ziad Rahbani Sports Get to Know 2025 WWE Evolution Results
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Is It Still Disney Magic If It's AI?
When Disney began working on a new, live-action version of its hit cartoon 'Moana,' executives started to ponder whether they should clone its star, Dwayne Johnson. The actor was reprising his role in the movie as Maui, a barrel-chested demigod, but for certain days on set, Disney had a plan in place that wouldn't require Johnson to be there at all. Under the plan they devised, Johnson's similarly buff cousin Tanoai Reed—who is 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds—would fill in as a body double for a small number of shots. Disney would work with AI company Metaphysic to create deepfakes of Johnson's face that could be layered on top of Reed's performance in the footage—a 'digital double' that effectively allowed Johnson to be in two places at once. What happened next was evidence that Hollywood's much-discussed, and much-feared, AI revolution won't be an overnight robot takeover. Johnson approved the plan, but the use of a new technology had Disney attorneys hammering out details over how it could be deployed, what security precautions would protect the data and a host of other concerns. They also worried that the studio ultimately couldn't claim ownership over every element of the film if AI generated parts of it, people involved in the negotiations said. Disney and Metaphysic spent 18 months negotiating on and off over the terms of the contract and work on the digital double. But none of the footage will be in the final film when it's released next summer. A deepfake Dwayne Johnson is just one part of a broader technological earthquake hitting Hollywood. Studios are scrambling to figure out simultaneously how to use AI in the filmmaking process and how to protect themselves against it. While executives see a future where the technology shaves tens of millions of dollars off a movie's budget, they are grappling with a present filled with legal uncertainty, fan backlash and a wariness toward embracing tools that some in Silicon Valley view as their next-century replacement. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is surveying members on how they use the technology. Studio chiefs are shutting down efforts to experiment for fear of angering show-business unions on the eve of another contract negotiation. And no studio stands to gain or lose more in the outcome than Disney—the home of Donald Duck, Belle, Buzz Lightyear and Stitch, among countless others—which has churned out some of the most valuable, and protected, creative works in the world over the past century. Interviews with more than 20 current and former employees and partners present an entertainment giant torn between the inevitability of AI's advance and concerns about how to use it. Progress has at times been slowed by bureaucracy and hand-wringing over the company's social contract with its fans, not to mention its legal contract with unions representing actors, writers and other creative partners. The company's early steps have included discussions about adding features within its Disney+ streaming service to enable subscribers to create their own clips of Disney shows and allowing gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader in Fortnite. Disney took a $1.5 billion stake in Fortnite's owner, Epic Games, last year. Some of its efforts to use AI in movies have gone nowhere. Meanwhile, Disney's legal teams remain fiercely protective of the studio's characters and wary of any moves internally or by third parties that could harm its brand, leading the company to sue one AI provider in June. And Disney employees who want to feed corporate information into generative AI tools for company business must first seek approval from an AI committee. (Over the past several months, the company has gotten response times to such requests down to 48 hours, according to a person familiar with the situation.) For Disney, protecting its characters and stories while also embracing new AI technology is key. 'We have been around for 100 years and we intend to be around for the next 100 years,' said the company's legal chief, Horacio Gutierrez, in an interview. 'AI will be transformative, but it doesn't need to be lawless.' It's just one of the challenges facing Chief Executive Bob Iger, who is expected to name a successor in early 2026 after nearly 20 years at the helm. He is under tremendous pressure to reduce costs amid declines in movie theater attendance and increases in people canceling their cable subscriptions. He has recently had to fend off criticism that his company has had creative challenges, and has focused too much on recycling old properties. Concerns about bad publicity were a big reason that Disney scrapped a plan to use AI in 'Tron: Ares'—a movie set for release in October about an AI-generated soldier entering the real world. Since the movie is about artificial intelligence, executives pitched the idea of actually incorporating AI into one of the characters in the sequel to the 1980s hit movie 'Tron' as a buzzy marketing strategy, according to people familiar with the matter. A writer would provide context on the animated character—a sidekick to Jeff Bridges' lead role named Bit—to a generative AI program. Then on screen, the AI program, voiced by an actor, would respond to questions as Bit as cameras rolled. But with negotiations with unions representing writers and actors over contracts happening at the same time, Disney dismissed the idea, and executives internally were told that the company couldn't risk the bad publicity, the people said. Guarding the kingdom Iger and Gutierrez have met with White House officials in recent months to discuss worries about AI models infringing on the company's intellectual property and using the studio's characters in inappropriate ways, according to people familiar with the discussions. Disney is up against companies like OpenAI and Google, which argue that having access to copyrighted materials as they train their models is crucial to compete in the AI race with China, which carries national security implications. In June, Disney and Comcast's Universal took their most drastic step yet toward protecting their creative works, suing AI provider Midjourney for allegedly making copies of their copyrighted properties. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism,' the companies said in its complaint filed in June. Midjourney hasn't responded to the suit. The lawsuit is seen by Disney's competitors as the strongest effort yet to establish a legal framework for AI issues. Some former employees and business partners who go toe-to-toe with Disney over use of its characters jokingly refer to the company as 'the largest law firm in California.' Disney said it is balancing the desire by its executives to move quickly on AI with the need to protect its characters. 'Our job is to enable our creators to use the best AI tools available without compromising the company long term,' Gutierrez said. AI is a new battleground for an entertainment company that spent the past decade weathering competition from Silicon Valley in the form of streaming rivals at Apple and Amazon, and the gravitational pull of eyeballs toward Google's YouTube. Google, OpenAI and others now offer video, photo and sound editing tools that let fans be their own producers, with the ability to manipulate characters and images at will. That's tough for a company that controls its IP as tightly as Disney, longtime executives said. In the suit filed against Midjourney, Disney and Universal included AI-generated images of some of their most popular characters, including the Minions and Darth Vader. Executives are keenly aware of how fast AI is advancing. At Disney's annual management retreat in Orlando earlier this year, Rob Bredow, a senior vice president at Disney's Lucasfilm, gave a presentation showing the rapid advances of generative AI tools, some of which can generate images and scenes that, to the casual eye, appear as good as professional productions. Bredow showed clips an artist created depicting a droid landing on a planet and the creatures it saw. Bredow explained the artist had first created the clips in the fall, and then again just a few months later, and marveled at the leap in quality of the videos, according to a person at the meeting. Epic tensions Historically, Disney has been reluctant to allow its characters to mingle on consumer goods it manufactures, let alone mix and match in ways that AI tools encourage. When princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are featured on the same product, like a lunchbox or poster, designers must ensure their gazes are fixed in different directions, so that the characters are all plausibly living in their own 'universe.' It took years for the company to allow Disney's characters from different universes—such as C-3PO and Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid'—to interact with each other in videogames. Disney's concerns about control of its characters and stories have been a point of debate in its recent work with Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, with tens of millions of monthly active users. Disney sees gaming as an important avenue for building future fandom. Fortnite collapses franchises into one storytelling universe—where Batman can coexist with Lara Croft and Frankenstein's Bride. Disney is planning its own world (internally code-named 'Bulldog') connected to Fortnite where gamers can interact with characters including Marvel superheroes and 'Avatar' creatures, people familiar with the plans said. Some Epic executives have complained about the slow pace of the decision-making at Disney, with signoffs needed from so many different divisions, said people familiar with the situation. And an experiment to allow gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader was fraught. Within minutes of launching the AI bot, gamers had figured out a way to make it curse in James Earl Jones's signature baritone. Epic fixed the workaround within 30 minutes. Ten million players spoke with Vader at least once, according to Epic. The joint venture is being overseen by Josh D'Amaro, head of Disney's parks and resorts, who is on a shortlist of internal candidates to succeed Iger. D'Amaro has made it a point to spend time with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, periodically visiting with him in Cary, N.C., where Epic is based, and going on hikes together, according to one of the people. Some Disney executives have raised concerns ahead of the project's launch, anticipated for fall 2026 at the earliest, about who owns fan creations based on Disney characters, said one of the people. For example, if a Fortnite gamer creates a Darth Vader and Spider-Man dance that goes viral on YouTube, who owns that dance? Hollywood divided Those ownership concerns extend to major motion pictures across Hollywood. On a typical visual-effects contract, the company creating the effects gives ownership of the material to the studio. But similarly transferring ownership of AI-generated work isn't so seamless, lawyers said. In the absence of any legal precedent, studios fear a future in which they don't own every element of a finished film, and no studio attorney wants to be the one to unwittingly let that happen. The stakes are high for a company with as many well-known characters as Disney, which Gutierrez said doesn't want AI firms to pay for use of its characters and then assume free rein. 'We want Darth Vader just for Disney—we are not interested in surrendering control of our characters and IP to others in exchange for a check,' Gutierrez said. In some corners, the technology is embraced as a lower-cost, more efficient tool. On Amazon's 'House of David,' an animated show about the biblical figure, creator Jon Erwin has boasted of the technology's godlike assistance in creating whole sequences of certain episodes. Lionsgate, the studio behind the John Wick franchise, last year announced a licensing deal with generative AI company Runway in exchange for a custom-built AI model it can use for production. A24, the studio behind 'Everything Everywhere All at Once,' was among the first studios to use Runway's AI and has hired a former expert from Adobe to help craft its strategy. Some in the industry are scared of the technology in a way enthusiasts criticize as naive. On some sets, visual-effects crews are warned on their first day to not even mention the term 'AI.' Actors who are scanned head-to-toe for digital double creation can have a representative from the Screen Actors Guild with them during the process. Hovering over any major studio decision regarding the technology: contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild set to resume next year. Executives are reluctant to make any announcement that might anger the union or be reversed under the new contract's terms. The 2024 movie 'Here,' a Sony release that told a story spanning decades, used generative AI to de-age stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright—and the software allowed them to see the footage of their younger selves instantaneously. When it came time to promote the film, producers grew concerned about potential pushback to having an A-list name like Hanks speak about the AI technology used in its making, a person involved in the film said. Hanks joked about those concerns during an appearance on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,' asking the house band to play a foreboding sequence of notes any time he used the term AI. 'Everybody gets scared,' he said. Disney's own history speaks to how studios have navigated technological crossroads before. When Disney hired Pixar to produce a handful of graphic images for its 1989 hit 'The Little Mermaid,' executives kept the incorporation a secret, fearing backlash from fans if they learned that not every frame of the animated film had been hand-drawn. Such knowledge, executives feared, might 'take away the magic.' Write to Jessica Toonkel at and Erich Schwartzel at
Mint
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Is it still Disney magic if it's AI?
When Disney began working on a new, live-action version of its hit cartoon 'Moana," executives started to ponder whether they should clone its star, Dwayne Johnson. The actor was reprising his role in the movie as Maui, a barrel-chested demigod, but for certain days on set, Disney had a plan in place that wouldn't require Johnson to be there at all. Under the plan they devised, Johnson's similarly buff cousin Tanoai Reed—who is 6-foot-3 and 250 pounds—would fill in as a body double for a small number of shots. Disney would work with AI company Metaphysic to create deepfakes of Johnson's face that could be layered on top of Reed's performance in the footage—a 'digital double" that effectively allowed Johnson to be in two places at once. What happened next was evidence that Hollywood's much-discussed, and much-feared, AI revolution won't be an overnight robot takeover. Johnson approved the plan, but the use of a new technology had Disney attorneys hammering out details over how it could be deployed, what security precautions would protect the data and a host of other concerns. They also worried that the studio ultimately couldn't claim ownership over every element of the film if AI generated parts of it, people involved in the negotiations said. Disney and Metaphysic spent 18 months negotiating on and off over the terms of the contract and work on the digital double. But none of the footage will be in the final film when it's released next summer. A deepfake Dwayne Johnson is just one part of a broader technological earthquake hitting Hollywood. Studios are scrambling to figure out simultaneously how to use AI in the filmmaking process and how to protect themselves against it. While executives see a future where the technology shaves tens of millions of dollars off a movie's budget, they are grappling with a present filled with legal uncertainty, fan backlash and a wariness toward embracing tools that some in Silicon Valley view as their next-century replacement. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is surveying members on how they use the technology. Studio chiefs are shutting down efforts to experiment for fear of angering show-business unions on the eve of another contract negotiation. And no studio stands to gain or lose more in the outcome than Disney—the home of Donald Duck, Belle, Buzz Lightyear and Stitch, among countless others—which has churned out some of the most valuable, and protected, creative works in the world over the past century. Interviews with more than 20 current and former employees and partners present an entertainment giant torn between the inevitability of AI's advance and concerns about how to use it. Progress has at times been slowed by bureaucracy and hand-wringing over the company's social contract with its fans, not to mention its legal contract with unions representing actors, writers and other creative partners. The company's early steps have included discussions about adding features within its Disney+ streaming service to enable subscribers to create their own clips of Disney shows and allowing gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader in Fortnite. Disney took a $1.5 billion stake in Fortnite's owner, Epic Games, last year. Some of its efforts to use AI in movies have gone nowhere. Meanwhile, Disney's legal teams remain fiercely protective of the studio's characters and wary of any moves internally or by third parties that could harm its brand, leading the company to sue one AI provider in June. And Disney employees who want to feed corporate information into generative AI tools for company business must first seek approval from an AI committee. (Over the past several months, the company has gotten response times to such requests down to 48 hours, according to a person familiar with the situation.) For Disney, protecting its characters and stories while also embracing new AI technology is key. 'We have been around for 100 years and we intend to be around for the next 100 years," said the company's legal chief, Horacio Gutierrez, in an interview. 'AI will be transformative, but it doesn't need to be lawless." It's just one of the challenges facing Chief Executive Bob Iger, who is expected to name a successor in early 2026 after nearly 20 years at the helm. He is under tremendous pressure to reduce costs amid declines in movie theater attendance and increases in people canceling their cable subscriptions. He has recently had to fend off criticism that his company has had creative challenges, and has focused too much on recycling old properties. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger in July. Concerns about bad publicity were a big reason that Disney scrapped a plan to use AI in 'Tron: Ares"—a movie set for release in October about an AI-generated soldier entering the real world. Since the movie is about artificial intelligence, executives pitched the idea of actually incorporating AI into one of the characters in the sequel to the 1980s hit movie 'Tron" as a buzzy marketing strategy, according to people familiar with the matter. A writer would provide context on the animated character—a sidekick to Jeff Bridges' lead role named Bit—to a generative AI program. Then on screen, the AI program, voiced by an actor, would respond to questions as Bit as cameras rolled. But with negotiations with unions representing writers and actors over contracts happening at the same time, Disney dismissed the idea, and executives internally were told that the company couldn't risk the bad publicity, the people said. Iger and Gutierrez have met with White House officials in recent months to discuss worries about AI models infringing on the company's intellectual property and using the studio's characters in inappropriate ways, according to people familiar with the discussions. Disney is up against companies like OpenAI and Google, which argue that having access to copyrighted materials as they train their models is crucial to compete in the AI race with China, which carries national security implications. In June, Disney and Comcast's Universal took their most drastic step yet toward protecting their creative works, suing AI provider Midjourney for allegedly making copies of their copyrighted properties. 'Midjourney is the quintessential copyright free-rider and a bottomless pit of plagiarism," the companies said in its complaint filed in June. Midjourney hasn't responded to the suit. The lawsuit is seen by Disney's competitors as the strongest effort yet to establish a legal framework for AI issues. Some former employees and business partners who go toe-to-toe with Disney over use of its characters jokingly refer to the company as 'the largest law firm in California." Disney said it is balancing the desire by its executives to move quickly on AI with the need to protect its characters. 'Our job is to enable our creators to use the best AI tools available without compromising the company long term," Gutierrez said. AI is a new battleground for an entertainment company that spent the past decade weathering competition from Silicon Valley in the form of streaming rivals at Apple and Amazon, and the gravitational pull of eyeballs toward Google's YouTube. Google, OpenAI and others now offer video, photo and sound editing tools that let fans be their own producers, with the ability to manipulate characters and images at will. That's tough for a company that controls its IP as tightly as Disney, longtime executives said. In the suit filed against Midjourney, Disney and Universal included AI-generated images of some of their most popular characters, including the Minions and Darth Vader. Executives are keenly aware of how fast AI is advancing. At Disney's annual management retreat in Orlando earlier this year, Rob Bredow, a senior vice president at Disney's Lucasfilm, gave a presentation showing the rapid advances of generative AI tools, some of which can generate images and scenes that, to the casual eye, appear as good as professional productions. Bredow showed clips an artist created depicting a droid landing on a planet and the creatures it saw. Bredow explained the artist had first created the clips in the fall, and then again just a few months later, and marveled at the leap in quality of the videos, according to a person at the meeting. Historically, Disney has been reluctant to allow its characters to mingle on consumer goods it manufactures, let alone mix and match in ways that AI tools encourage. When princesses like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are featured on the same product, like a lunchbox or poster, designers must ensure their gazes are fixed in different directions, so that the characters are all plausibly living in their own 'universe." It took years for the company to allow Disney's characters from different universes—such as C-3PO and Ariel from 'The Little Mermaid"—to interact with each other in videogames. Disney's concerns about control of its characters and stories have been a point of debate in its recent work with Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, with tens of millions of monthly active users. Disney sees gaming as an important avenue for building future fandom. Fortnite collapses franchises into one storytelling universe—where Batman can coexist with Lara Croft and Frankenstein's Bride. Disney is planning its own world (internally code-named 'Bulldog") connected to Fortnite where gamers can interact with characters including Marvel superheroes and 'Avatar" creatures, people familiar with the plans said. Some Epic executives have complained about the slow pace of the decision-making at Disney, with signoffs needed from so many different divisions, said people familiar with the situation. And an experiment to allow gamers to interact with an AI-generated Darth Vader was fraught. Within minutes of launching the AI bot, gamers had figured out a way to make it curse in James Earl Jones's signature baritone. Epic fixed the workaround within 30 minutes. Ten million players spoke with Vader at least once, according to Epic. The joint venture is being overseen by Josh D'Amaro, head of Disney's parks and resorts, who is on a shortlist of internal candidates to succeed Iger. D'Amaro has made it a point to spend time with Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, periodically visiting with him in Cary, N.C., where Epic is based, and going on hikes together, according to one of the people. Some Disney executives have raised concerns ahead of the project's launch, anticipated for fall 2026 at the earliest, about who owns fan creations based on Disney characters, said one of the people. For example, if a Fortnite gamer creates a Darth Vader and Spider-Man dance that goes viral on YouTube, who owns that dance? Those ownership concerns extend to major motion pictures across Hollywood. On a typical visual-effects contract, the company creating the effects gives ownership of the material to the studio. But similarly transferring ownership of AI-generated work isn't so seamless, lawyers said. In the absence of any legal precedent, studios fear a future in which they don't own every element of a finished film, and no studio attorney wants to be the one to unwittingly let that happen. The stakes are high for a company with as many well-known characters as Disney, which Gutierrez said doesn't want AI firms to pay for use of its characters and then assume free rein. 'We want Darth Vader just for Disney—we are not interested in surrendering control of our characters and IP to others in exchange for a check," Gutierrez said. In some corners, the technology is embraced as a lower-cost, more efficient tool. On Amazon's 'House of David," an animated show about the biblical figure, creator Jon Erwin has boasted of the technology's godlike assistance in creating whole sequences of certain episodes. Lionsgate, the studio behind the John Wick franchise, last year announced a licensing deal with generative AI company Runway in exchange for a custom-built AI model it can use for production. A24, the studio behind 'Everything Everywhere All at Once," was among the first studios to use Runway's AI and has hired a former expert from Adobe to help craft its strategy. Some in the industry are scared of the technology in a way enthusiasts criticize as naive. On some sets, visual-effects crews are warned on their first day to not even mention the term 'AI." Actors who are scanned head-to-toe for digital double creation can have a representative from the Screen Actors Guild with them during the process. Hovering over any major studio decision regarding the technology: contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild set to resume next year. Executives are reluctant to make any announcement that might anger the union or be reversed under the new contract's terms. The 2024 movie 'Here," a Sony release that told a story spanning decades, used generative AI to de-age stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright—and the software allowed them to see the footage of their younger selves instantaneously. When it came time to promote the film, producers grew concerned about potential pushback to having an A-list name like Hanks speak about the AI technology used in its making, a person involved in the film said. Hanks joked about those concerns during an appearance on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," asking the house band to play a foreboding sequence of notes any time he used the term AI. 'Everybody gets scared," he said. Disney's own history speaks to how studios have navigated technological crossroads before. When Disney hired Pixar to produce a handful of graphic images for its 1989 hit 'The Little Mermaid," executives kept the incorporation a secret, fearing backlash from fans if they learned that not every frame of the animated film had been hand-drawn. Such knowledge, executives feared, might 'take away the magic." Write to Jessica Toonkel at and Erich Schwartzel at
