Bondit Capital Media (“Loving Vincent”), Happy Moon Productions and Ten Ten Global Media have committed to finance a $70 million science fiction film that will be the first to rely on an artificially intelligent actor.
Based on a story by visual effects supervisor Eric Pham, Tarek Zohdy, and Sam Khoze, the story follows a scientist who discovers dangers associated with a program he created to perfect human DNA and helps the artificially intelligent woman he designed (Erica) escape.
Japanese scientists Hiroshi Ishiguro and Kohei Ogawa, who created Erica in real life as part of their study of robotics, also taught her to act – applying the principles of method acting to artificial intelligence.
Khoze says in a statement: “In other methods of acting, actors involve their own life experiences in the role. But Erica has no life experiences. She was created from scratch to play the role. We had to simulate her motions and emotions through one-on-one sessions, such as controlling the speed of her movements, talking through her feelings and coaching character development and body language.”
Erica was originally set to debut in a different project directed by Tony Kaye (“American History X”) but that fell apart over scheduling issues. Erica’s co-stars and director are not yet attached, but some of her scenes were shot in Japan in 2019 with the rest likely to take place in Europe next Summer.
Source: THR
