Bruce Willis has released a large number of direct-to-video films in the last few years of his career, and the reason for that became clear when it was announced that the iconic action star was being forced to retire after being diagnosed with aphasia. Now Willis is the first Hollywood actor to sell their likeness for use in deepfake videos.
Bruce Willis’ announcement earlier this year shocked and saddened the world, with the… die hard star is acclaimed by thousands of colleagues, friends, family and fans for his four-decade career. Willis’ diagnosis indicated that the actor would have difficulty reading, speaking and listening, which is essential when learning rules and following a director’s instructions in the film industry. Willis’ retirement suggested that aside from the last few low-budget films, the actor’s on-screen appearances were coming to an end.
Now it seems that may not be the case because The Telegraph has reported that Willis has transferred the rights to his image to US firm Deepcake, which will be able to create digitally generated deep fake versions of the star for use in movies and on TV. As it stands, Willis has already appeared in a commercial in 2021 using the technology, and at the time he seemed excited about the opportunity for him to have the “opportunity to go back in time” and it was obvious. a large part of him signs his likeness to enable future appearances. It’s not clear if any use of his image has yet to be authorized in some way, or if Deepcake can use it however they want.
Deep Fake technology has vastly improved over the past decade
While deepfake technology has always been a bit dubious, lately it has seen many more applications making its way into major film and TV productions, particularly from the Star Wars franchisee. The first instance of using deepfake style graphics was in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, who created a digital version of the late Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. Since then, similar technology has been used to create digital younger versions of Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywallker in The Mandalorian and Boba Fett’s bookas well as a digital version of the late Carrie Fisher in The Rise of Skywalker.
Over the years, many deceased actors have been brought back to life through the use of this type of technology, including Paul Walker in Fast and Furious 7Oliver Reed in gladiator and Marlon Brando in Superman is coming backbut in addition, advancements in software have left many actors obsolete, such as Samuel L. Jackson in Captain MarvelRobert De Niro and Al Pacino in the Irishmanand Will Smith in Twins Manand it is believed that Harrison Ford will look younger for at least part of the next few years Indiana Jones 5.
Where Bruce Willis’ deal will go in the future is currently unclear, but what is becoming clear is that actors’ careers are increasingly not limited by age or even death. Now that Disney is heavily involved in the use of deepfake style technology and now owns the rights to the die hard movies, it could be possible that Bruce Willis could appear in another project as John McClane at some point. Willis was one of the driving forces behind 80s action movies and could now be a pioneer of these types of retirement plans for many other actors.