KISS become immortal / acting avatars / AI rebuilds?

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Technically, they are comic book heroes - and superheroes (check out the properly ridiculous Phantom Of The Park movie, as well as their actual Scooby Doo movie that sent it up...)

 

So KISS played their last-ever show at Madison Square Garden.

But as they vanished, they suddenly appeared above the audience, declaring their fans had made them "immortal."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67611691

 

What they're gonna do is use the ABBAtar robotic technology pioneered for London's Voyage show, projecting digital images onto physical mannequins. I'm not gonna give away exactly how they do it, because it's pretty impressive - it's a very very old bit of stage magic given a whole new lease of life with technology, and a highly controlled environment.

 

But while the Swedish crew wanted to make the show as realistic as possible - and according to my partner who's seen it, there's still a lot of Uncanny Valley going on - KISS have been trying to do the exact opposite for the last 50 years.  So they're going to... let's say... embrace all the possibilities.

 

So, theoretically, between physical avatars and digital reconstruction, there's a lot of actors and musicians that we could bring back to life. And with the cunning Ukrainian folks at Respeecher, you can make them say what you want (singing... not yet so much.) Some people are good with that: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/09/james-earl-jones-signed-darth-vader-voice-rights-to-disney-for-ai-use/

 

Question is... do we want to? 

 

One of the only bad bits of the fantastic Rogue One was bringing Peter Cushing back from the dead. Even without the flaws in the CGI recreation, it made it much harder to suspend disbelief - for me - than if they'd used the actual actor they'd used for mo-cap and voicing, with some decent aging makeup. 

 

And as you may have heard, one of the key sticking points in the recent SAG-AFTRA strike was actors wanting to be protected from future AI use without their permission (and without royalties). 

 

So admittedly this tech is moving really, really fast, and I'm not sure where we'll be in a few years.

But would you watch a movie, gig or TV show knowing its stars were either dead, retired, or didn't want to be in the show?

Edited December 4, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Voltor]

I watch older TV shows and movies that have lost some cast and crew over the years,  case in point Babylon 5 and the original Night Court.  Richard Moll aka Bull recently passed away leaving only Dan and Roz left from the old show.   I still laugh at the jokes in Night Court and enjoy the story of Babylon 5

 

James Earl Jones has struck a deal for his voice to be AI cloned from now and forever.  Thus voice of Vader shall live on.   I have no problem with that as I have heard others play Vader in assorted Star Wars games over the years........James Earl Jones IS Vader, imo.

 

Peter Cullen, a prolific voice actor best known as the original voice of Optimus Prime is still around and I think he got a life time achievement award recently.    I don't know how he feels about AI voice cloning, but I hope he does strike a deal to keep the voice of Optimus Prime alive.   His most recent work is in Invincible Season 2 as Thaedus. You will know his voice when you hear it 🙂

[Without_Pause]

Tough to tell how good the video aspect is when I can't even watch it in 4k. From what I can see it is still a bit on the cartoon side of things.

[Hyperstrike]

And no matter what, the engine will be outdated about the time it's actually usable.