If you've seen “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and noticed an uncanny resemblance between child actor Alyla Browne, who plays the titular character, and Anya Taylor-Joy as a child, the story goes back several years. , you are not alone.
The reason seems to involve more than just its skillful casting. Director George Miller also used artificial intelligence to create the post-prequel to 2015's “Mad Max: Fury Road,” which Warner Bros. opened in the U.S. on Friday.
“George Miller had the idea very early on,” Taylor Joy explained in an interview on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” Audiences were already getting used to a new Furiosa. [Charlize Theron in ‘Fury Road’]. He wanted a change from both actors. [Browne and Taylor-Joy] Playing it to be smooth. And so I spent two days doing the weirdest things you can imagine. And they blended our faces together.
Taylor-Joy added that at the beginning of the film, it's about 35 percent of her appearance on Brown, and by the time she takes over the role, it's about 80 percent. “It's wild to watch,” he admitted.
Details of how the work was completed have yet to be revealed, but DNEG and Framestore are the primary visual effects providers for the film. And startup Metaphysics AI — which is developing AI tools for uses like actor aging and deaging — is listed in the film's closing credits and presumably had its tech involved.
That shouldn't come as a surprise because during a recent LOT conference in downtown Los Angeles, Metaphysics Chief Content Officer Ed Albrich admitted that the company was involved in the development of three movies to be released this year. He didn't name the titles, but one that has already been announced is Robert Zemeckis' upcoming “Here,” starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, who will age throughout the film.
Albrecht of metaphysics is no stranger to such work. He is an alumnus of Digital Domain, which was the lead VFX house on the Oscar-winning 2008 film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which involved the aging and de-aging of the titular character played by Brad Pitt. AI's potential to advance this area is evidenced, for example, by Industrial Light & Magic's use of machine learning to create a young Harrison Ford in 2023's “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” .
In the aforementioned TV interview, Taylor-Joy also acknowledged the thorny legal and ethical issues. “There's a reason our industry went on strike,” he said, referring to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. “It's something that's scary, and I think if you're going to use it you have to be honest about it and it should always be consensual. It's in anything in life. It is the lack of consent that is the scary thing.
Variety Warner Bros. and Metaphysics have been contacted for comment.