Copyright Deadline
Kevin O’Leary has no problem with AI in Hollywood. The Shark Tank star defended the use of AI in an appearance on The Hill’s World of Travel podcast arguing that A24’s upcoming film Marty Supreme, in which he appears, could have saved “millions of dollars” if they had used “AI agents” in place of the 150 background actors on the film, so that “more movies could be made.” “Almost every scene had as many as 150 extras. Now, those people have to stay awake for 18 hours, be completely dressed in the background. [They’re] not necessarily in the movie, but they’re necessary to be there moving around. And yet, it costs millions of dollars to do that,” O’Leary said. “Why couldn’t you simply put AI agents in their place? Because they’re not the main actors. They’re only in the story visually. [You could] save millions of dollars, so more movies could be made. The same director, instead of spending $90 million or whatever he spent, could’ve spent $35 million and made two movies.” O’Leary continued, “I’d argue for the sake of the art, you should allow it in certain cases, and extra is a really good-use case because you can’t tell the difference. you just put a hundred Norwood Tillys {cq] in there and you’re good.” O’Leary was referring to TIlly Norwood, a digitally generated “actor” created by AI talent studio Xicoia, which provoked an outcry by SAG-AFTRA after it was reported last month that a number of talent agents were interested in signing the creation. O’Leary plays the husband to Gwyneth Paltrow’s character in Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, which stars Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet. The film, set in the world of 1950s ping pong culture, tells the story of Marty Mauser (Chalamet), a young man with a dream no one respects, who goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness. Marty Supreme is set for release in theaters on Christmas Day.
