Former action star Willis has become the first Hollywood name to sell the rights to his likeness for future usage in Deepfake-enabled productions. The deal follows Willis’ health struggles after being diagnosed with aphasia back in March, a language disorder that impairs cognitive ability and impacts basic communication skills such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing, although the buying party did put out an official statement from the man himself.
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In a new report from The Telegraph, Deepfake, the company that bought said image rights, quoted Willis as saying that he “liked the precision with which my character turned out. It’s a mini-movie in my usual action-comedy genre. For me, it is a great opportunity to go back in time.” So definitely fitting words given his rare health condition. Deepfake Willis appears to have made his debut in an ad for a Russian communications company, and though some will find something is “off” in the CGI rendition, it admittedly does look like a younger version of Willis.
Willis’ career and public appearances started fading after a later period of his career working on direct-to-video projects, with Glass perhaps being his final big movie. Unavoidably, the move will spark debate around the ethics of using Deepfake to perpetuate the image of cultural icons and their associated roles, similarly to the way holograms did some years ago. However, in this case, Willis lived to make his own decisions on the matter.
In all fairness, Willis was no stranger to doing advertisements, such as his Die Hard ad from a couple of years ago, and his status as both a comedy and action icon likely means he or the people close to him are very much aware of the potential ramifications. Sources point to Willis being quite happy with the decision to prolong his career unofficially in this form while making some money as well, so maybe some fans will be hoping to see John McClane return in some form in the near future promoting all kinds of products.
Willis has an amazing movie repertoire, nevertheless, his action exploits are what most people know him for. With Rick and Morty paying tribute to Die Hard, it seems like a good time to enjoy some of his definitive action classics.
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Source: The Telegraph
