“Shark Tank” host Kevin O’Leary makes his feature film acting debut in James Mangold’s upcoming 1950s-set ping pong movie “Marty Supreme” film starring Timothee Chalamet.
It’s only expected to be a small part, playing the husband to Gwyneth Paltrow’s character in the film. However, O’Leary has drawn headlines about it this week for his comments about the production while appearing on an episode of The Hill’s World of Travel: The Podcast.
Talking about his personal investments in AI, he cited some of the stadium scenes in the film as being an example of how the technology could be implemented to cut costs on a production:
“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.
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.”
The industry has pushed back hard against the use of AI, but O’Leary continues saying: “I’d argue, for the sake of the art, you should allow [AI] in certain cases. An extra is a really good case, because you can’t tell the difference.”
“Marty Supreme” cost over $60 million, making it A24’s most expensive feature to date, with the film slated to open at Christmas.
