Latest news with #Respeecher
Geek Tyrant
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Epic Uses AI to Revive James Earl Jones' Darth Vader Voice in FORTNITE, and Gamers Are Already Making Him Swear — GeekTyrant
Fortnite now lets you talk to Darth Vader and thanks to AI and some uncanny tech wizardry, Epic Games has brought back James Earl Jones' iconic voice for Fortnite: Galactic Battle , the game's latest Star War s-themed event. As you might expect, players are already pushing the boundaries of what the Dark Lord of the Sith can, and probably shouldn't say. In an announcement titled 'This Will Be a Day Long Remembered: Speak with Darth Vader in Fortnite', Epic introduced a new feature that allows players to have full-on conversations with Vader using voice input. He responds in that unmistakable baritone made famous by Jones, recreated using a combo of Google's Gemini 2.0 and ElevenLabs' Flash v2.5 models. You can ask him about the Force, the Galactic Empire's politics, or even how to win in the game's Storm Cycle. The voice comes courtesy of Respeecher, the Ukrainian AI company known for high-quality voice cloning. Before his death, James Earl Jones signed over the rights to his voice to Lucasfilm in 2022, essentially giving his blessing for future AI recreations. This new Vader experience is one of the first big public uses of that voice model. In a statement from the actor's family, they explained the reasoning behind the decision: 'James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.' Players under 13, or whatever the digital age of consent is in their country, need parental permission to chat with Vader, but that hasn't stopped players from having a field day. Because, of course, they have. In one viral moment, Twitch streamer Loserfruit discovered firsthand just how wild things could get. While experimenting with the new Vader chat feature, she got the Sith Lord to drop an f-bomb. 'F*ck,' he said—calmly, in full James Earl Jones AI voice. Epic and Disney have, understandably, tried to keep the feature from going totally rogue. According to Fortnite leaker iFireMonkey, Vader's AI has been coded with restrictions on hot-button topics like self-harm, abuse, eating disorders, hijacking, and jailbreaking. But profanity? Apparently fair game… at least for now. Turning Darth Vader into a chatty NPC powered by AI is bound to raise eyebrows, no matter how well-intentioned. Whether this is a meaningful evolution in preserving iconic performances or just another bizarre chapter in Fortnite's galaxy of crossover absurdity probably depends on who you ask. But, if you ever wanted to hear Darth Vader give you gaming tips, or accidentally cuss you out, now's your moment.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
James Earl Jones' Darth Vader Returns to ‘Fortnite' Using AI Technology
Fortnite players can channel their inner dark side as James Earl Jones' Darth Vader returns to the game. Players will be able to recruit the Sith Lord and be able to talk to him, he will respond with the help of AI. Epic Games and Disney have brought Jones back with the permission of his family. More from Variety 'Fortnite' on iOS Goes 'Offline Worldwide Until Apple Unblocks' App Store Release Submission 'Andor': Alan Tudyk on K-2SO's Return, Filming 'Gruesome' Finale Scene and How Cassian 'Freed Him From His Servitude' 'Andor' Creator Tony Gilroy on the Series Finale, Cassian's [SPOILER], the Show's 'Controversial' Set and His Next Film With Oscar Isaac According to a release, the family said, 'James Earl felt that the voice of Darth Vader was inseparable from the story of Star Wars, and he always wanted fans of all ages to continue to experience it. We hope that this collaboration with Fortnite will allow both longtime fans of Darth Vader and newer generations to share in the enjoyment of this iconic character.' Jones, who died in 2024, had previously announced he was stepping away from the role. But before he died, he signed off on archival voice recordings being used by young filmmakers, who plan to utilize artificial intelligence synthetic speech technology to recreate Jones' younger voice from his previous films for future Lucasfilm projects. The company recurited the assistance of Respeecher, a Ukrainian startup that uses AI technology to craft new conversations from revitalized old voice recordings. Respeecher's relationship with Lucasfilm began with the Disney+ series 'The Book of Boba Fett,' for which they recreated the voice of young Luke Skywalker. The two also teamed for the voice performance of Darth Vader on the series 'Obi-Wan Kenobi.' In the game, Darth Vader will be a boss in battle royale. 'Ask him all your pressing questions about the Force, the Galactic Empire… or you know, a good strat for the last Storm circle,' reads the official post on Fortnite's site. 'The Sith Lord has opinions.' It continued, 'Darth Vader wouldn't be nearly as sinister without the legendary performance of James Earl Jones, who voiced Vader in the 'Star Wars' films.' Heard there's someone new at Vader Samurai's Solitude 👀 — Fortnite (@Fortnite) May 16, 2025 However, the addition of Darth Vader has not come without glitches. Gamers have already created amusing video content with one gamer and Twitch streamer making the Dark Lord swear. A gamer called Loserthug has him saying 'Fuck.' Darth Vader AI already accidentally swore & called Loserfruit a "Thug".. they'll hotfix this asap 😭😭 — HYPEX (@HYPEX) May 16, 2025 Epic Games was swift to respond and said they have 'pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn't happen again.' We pushed a hotfix immediately and this shouldn't happen again. — Fortnite (@Fortnite) May 16, 2025Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Cannes Market Head Talks Technology Push With New ‘Village Innovation', AI Summit & Immersive Market
Updated 9am PT May 8 to reflect changes to AI Summit: Brady Corbet's Oscar and Globe-winning drama The Brutalist wound up in the eye of a brief awards season storm in January after it emerged that AI had been used to modify the dialogue of its co-stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. The storm was downgraded to a squall after Corbet explained that his sound team had worked with Ukrainian AI voice company Respeecher to 'refine certain vowels and letter for accuracy' in the co-stars' Hungarian-language dialogue, while English-language dialogue had not been touched. More from Deadline Andy Serkis' Animated Film 'Animal Farm' Sets Sales With Goodfellas Animation - Cannes Market Italy's Fandango Appoints Laura Nacher As Head Of Sales As Part Of International Push - Cannes Market Plaion Takes Italian Rights For Dutch Romantic Drama 'Red Flags' - Cannes Market Four months on, Respeecher CEO and co-founder Alex Serdiuk will be at the Cannes Marché du Film for a panel entitled 'AI Voices for Hollywood and Beyond', which will touch on the company's involvement in The Brutalist as well as Jacques Audiard's 2024 Cannes Jury Prize and Oscar winner Emilia Pérez. The event is among a raft of technology and innovation-focused talks, panels and demonstrations scheduled to take place at the market's new Village Innovation, a 1,000 meter-square space in the Pantiero area overlooking the old port. The village, which incorporates part of the market's long running Cannes Next program, has a focus on AI, virtual production and immersive content but touches on all aspects of technology that intersect with cinema. 'The village is part of our larger ambition to make Cannes a key innovation event, at the intersection of technology and the film industry,' says Cannes Market head Guillaume Esmiol. 'We're not looking to compete with tech events like CES or IBC. Our aim is rather to discuss how technology innovation can be at the service of creativity.' Esmiol, who took over from long-time market head Jérôme Paillard in 2023, having begun his career in the digital domain at French TV network TF1, says the time is ripe for the market to move further into the technology space. 'The idea is to get all film professionals engaged with this topic,' he says. 'It's open to everyone, whether they have a market or a festival badge.' He acknowledges that developments such as generative AI are a divisive issue in the film industry. 'It's not the market's role to take a position on whether technology is good or bad. Our role is to explain what's happening. With AI, whether you like it or not, you still have to understand what's happening,' he adds. Other program highlights include an AI project pitching session overseen by the Sylvester Stallone-backed analytics platform a workshop by A.J. Wedding and Brian Nitzkin at L.A-based virtual production specialist Orbital Studios (Snowfall, History's Greatest Heists) exploring Nvidia's Omniverse platform; a panel on how filmmakers can use generative AI without losing their voice, with speakers including Leonine co-founder and Oscar-winning producer Max Wiedemann, who is currently Head of AI at the Mediawan Group, and a case study with Paris-based VFX and animation company McGuff on the tools and techniques behind the Face Creative Engine used in Julia Ducournau's 2025 Palme d'Or contender Alpha. A handful of Cannes Next discussions will take place outside of the Village Innovation, such as a conversation on the market's main stage between Japanese games creator and auteur Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear, Death Stranding) and German Turkish director Fatih Akin, who is in Cannes Official Selection with Amrum, on how technology has impacts their storytelling. Roman Coppola and Leo Matchett will also be back at the market to discuss DCP+, the streaming platform launched last year by their Blockchain-based film funding platform Decentralized Pictures, which is a sister company to American Zentropa. The market is also aiming to take the conversation around AI to another level with its inaugural one-day AI Summit on May 15. Previously announced guest Rob Bredow, SVP, Creative Innovation, Digital Production & Technology Lucasfilm & ILM, who was to due to give a keynote, can no longer make it to Cannes and new speakers are to due to be unveiled in the coming days (noted added May 8). The Oscar-nominated visual effects veteran, whose credits include Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Mandalorian and Aquaman, had recently given a Ted Talk championing ILM's creative legacy as well as future opportunities offered by AI. The invite-only summit aims to gather decision-makers, technologists and creators for discussions around investment opportunities, strategic partnerships and the future of AI-driven innovation in cinema and entertainment. 'We're inviting 150 to 200 high profile guests,' says Esmiol. 'It's different from the events at the Village Innovation which is open to everyone… this is for people who are from the cinema industry, who are already working with technology. The aim is to lay on a high-level summit.' Beyond AI and virtual production, the other key pole of the market's technology focus is immersive content, in conjunction with the festival's second Immersive Competition (a reboot of the Cannes XR Competition). The 16-title 2025 selection includes Eloise Singer Trailblazer, about German automobile pioneer Bertha Benz, which is EP'ed and voiced by Daisy Ridley; Iranian artist Navid Khonsari's Lili, featuring Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir; Dutch immersive directors and producers Maartje Wegdam and Nienke Huitenga-Broeren's Lacuna, revisiting an octogenarian's World War Two memories, and The Exploding Girl, genre duo Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel's who were in Cannes Directors' Fortnight last year with feature Eat The Night. After last year's out of town location, the works will be gathered in an exhibition at the Carlton Hotel. 'It generated around 3,000 sessions last year but the feedback we got was that it needed to be closer to the main festival,' says Esmiol. Many of the contenders will be participating in a series of talks bannered Immersive Spotlights at the Village Innovation. The market is also launching its inaugural Immersive Market, which will be situated on the Art Explora catamaran, and revolve around a seven-day Curators Network, aimed at connecting museum curators, cultural institutions, and themed entertainment venues with immersive works and creators. 'The competition is managed by the festival, but we are able to complement this work with the market,' says Esmiol. 'One of the biggest challenges for immersive works is their distribution… last year's competition attracted a lot of attention so this year we made a big effort to connect with curators who we thought could be interested in this sort of market.' Best of Deadline Everything We Know About Celine Song's 'Materialists' So Far 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More
The Independent
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
David Cronenberg suggests The Brutalist AI controversy was a ‘Harvey Weinstein kind of' smear campaign
David Cronenberg has suggested that the controversy over the use of AI in The Brutalist was a smear campaign orchestrated by another Oscar nominated film. In January, social media backlash erupted after editor Dávid Jancsó revealed AI tools were used in the epic film's production. Jancsó said that Respeecher voice cloning software had been used to make Hungarian dialogue spoken by Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones sound more authentic. At the time the film's director Brady Corbet spoke out to defend the film and the actors, saying: 'Adrien and Felicity's performances are completely their own.' Brody ultimately won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, although the film missed out in the Best Picture category. Speaking at the London Soundtrack Festival, per The Hollywood Reporter, Cronenberg said: 'I must confess, there was a scandal [with] The Brutalist. 'There was a discussion about Adrien Brody… but apparently they used artificial intelligence to improve his accent. I think it was a campaign against The Brutalist by some other Oscar nominees. It's very much a Harvey Weinstein kind of thing, though he wasn't around.' The Canadian director of The Fly and Crash continued: 'We mess with actors' voices all the time.' Referring to his 1993 film M. Butterfly, Cronenberg said: 'In the case of John (Lone), when he was being this character, this singer, I raised the pitch of his voice [to sound more feminine] and when he's revealed as a man, I lowered to his natural voice. This is just a part of moviemaking.' In his statement defending The Brutalist at the time the controversy first emerged, the film's director Corbet said: 'Adrien and Felicity's performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents. 'Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed. This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity's performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.' Corbet concluded his statement by saying: ' The Brutalist is a film about human complexity, and every aspect of its creation was driven by human effort, creativity and collaboration. We are incredibly proud of our team and what they've accomplished here.'
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
David Cronenberg Thinks ‘The Brutalist's AI Controversy Was A Smear Campaign: 'Just A Part Of Moviemaking'
Following controversy around The Brutalist's usage of AI, David Cronenberg is coming to the Best Picture Oscar nominee's defense. During a conversation with longtime collaborator Howard Shore at the London Soundtrack Festival, the director theorized there was a 'campaign against' the Brady Corbet-helmed film, noting that AI is used 'all the time' in filmmaking. More from Deadline 'The Brutalist' Editor Says Filmmakers Used AI Tools To Enhance Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones' Hungarian Dialogue 'The Brutalist' Director Brady Corbet Says Use Of AI In Post Was For 'Hungarian Language Dialogue Editing Only;' Filmmaker Asserts Adrien Brody & Felicity Jones' 'Performances Are Completely Their Own' Nvidia CEO Chats Up Star Wars-Inspired Droid As Chip Maker Partners With Disney, Google And Lays Out The AI Revolution 'I must confess, there was a scandal [with] The Brutalist,' said Cronenberg, according to multiple outlets. 'There was a discussion about Adrien Brody… but apparently they used artificial intelligence to improve his accent. I think it was a campaign against The Brutalist by some other Oscar nominees. It's very much a Harvey Weinstein kind of thing, though he wasn't around.' Cronenberg explained that directors 'mess with actors' voices all the time,' citing John Lone's performance in his 1993 film M. Butterfly. 'When he was being this character, this singer, I raised the pitch of his voice and when he's revealed as a man, I lowered to his natural voice,' he said. 'This is just a part of moviemaking.' The Brutalist editor Dávid Jancsó previously revealed that AI tools from Ukrainian company Respeecher were used in the film to enhance actors' Hungarian dialogue. As a native Hungarian speaker, he noted that the dialect is 'one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce.' 'It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn't be,' Jancsó told Red Shark News. 'We should be having a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us with. There's nothing in the film using AI that hasn't been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster. We use AI to create these tiny little details that we didn't have the money or the time to shoot.' Corbet later said in a response shared with Deadline: 'Adrien and Felicity's performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents. Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed. This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity's performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.' Best of Deadline How To Watch 'Wicked: Part One': Is The Film Streaming Yet? All The Songs In 'Severance' Season 2: From The Who To Ella Fitzgerald 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
