Nicolas Cage has raised concerns over the growing use of AI and “employment-based digital replicas” (EBDR) to alter actors’ performances. Speaking at the 25th Newport Beach Film Festival, Cage warned that this new technology is poised to disrupt the craft of acting, telling younger actors that EBDR “wants to take your instrument.” As actors, he said, “we are the instruments, as film actors- they want to take it away from you."
Under a 2023 agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, studios are allowed to create two types of digital replicas, often involving generative AI. EBDRs are made with an actor’s participation, like Harrison Ford’s digitally de-aged version in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
Then there is something called the independently created digital replicas (ICDRs), such as Carrie Fisher’s posthumous Princess Leia in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, are crafted without the original actor’s involvement, using archival footage.
Cage cautioned how easy it would be for studios to exploit this technology to alter performances without actors’ consent, stating, “They can change your face, your voice, your line deliveries, your body language—your entire performance.” He cited his Superman cameo in The Flash as an example, noting that the final scene did not reflect his original interpretation.
To Cage, AI represents a significant threat to artistic integrity. He described AI as “a nightmare” and “inhumane,” calling on actors to reconsider contracts permitting the use of EBDR. He urged them to protect their voices, faces, bodies, imaginations, and performances.
While SAG-AFTRA reached an agreement over AI use in films, the union is currently striking over the application of AI in video game productions. As of the second week of the strike, no resolution is in sight. According to SAG-AFTRA’s Chief Contract Officer Ray Rodriguez, key issues include the protection of both on-camera performers and voice artists from AI-driven alterations.
Cage ended his speech by urging young actors to protect their work and consider a personal mantra, MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination, my performance, as a way to safeguard their artistry.
Cage has long been outspoken about his apprehension regarding AI in entertainment. In a previous interview, he expressed his feat that AI could fundamentally change the art of acting, wondering "Where will the truth of the Artist end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where's the heartbeat going to be?"
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