Nicolas Cage is “terrified” about being “replaced” by artificial intelligence.
The Dream Scenario actor has been digitally scanned for his upcoming role in MGM+ and Amazon Prime Video’s live action Spider-Man Noir series, and he is wary about what the process might mean for the future of Hollywood.
Explaining why he had to wind down his interview with The New Yorker magazine, he said: “I have to slip out after this to go get a scan done for the show, and then also for the movie I’m doing after the show. Two scans in one day!”
Asked what that involves, he added: “Well, they have to put me in a computer and match my eye color and change — I don’t know. They’re just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital AI. God, I hope not AI, I’m terrified of that. I’ve been very vocal about it.”
The 60-year-old star admitted it’s a “scary” prospect, and he is worried about the idea of people using his likeness after he has died.
He added: “It is [scary]. And it makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artists end up? Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where’s the heartbeat going to be? I mean, what are you going to do with my body and my face when I’m dead? I don’t want you to do anything with it!”
READ MORE: Nicolas Cage to Star in Live-Action Spider-Man Noir Series
Cage suggested while he “used to be in control” of the way he’s presented, he feels like becoming a meme has changed things.
He said: “I don’t think I’m in control of that anymore. And that’s also partly why I responded to the script in Dream Scenario.”
“I mean, my meme-ification is not unlike Paul’s dream-ification. I started very young, and I wanted to make a big noise and create a kind of punk-rock aura around myself. I was definitely not going to be a part of the — abhorrent words — Brat Pack. I mean, they didn’t belong in that, either. I thought that was very unfair.”
“But I’m not the same person I was when I was 15. I’m now 60. Nonetheless, some of the roles that I’ve gravitated toward have created this mythology, or compounded it.”
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