Tilly Norwood: The AI ​​actress who divides the cinema

Tilly Norwood is Hollywood’s hottest actress at the moment. His career has already been highlighted by publications such as Variety, BBC and Forbes, among others.

It is the type of exhibition that any young actress in early career would have to have. But Tilly does not dream – and does not act, in the strict sense of the Word.

This is because Tilly is an actress created by artificial intelligence, developed by Particle6 Studios, a British producer specializing in AI technology films.

Digital actors are not new

There was, of course, other AI “actors” before her. Carrie Fisher was digitally resurrected in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.

James Cameron used digital extras to compose the Titanic scenario in 1997. But so far no creation had reached Tilly’s media repercussion.

Part of this success is due to his creator, Eline Van der Velden, and the Particle6 team, who launched Tilly as a persona – a programmed figure to interpret and thrill.

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Art or engineering?

As Van Der Velden explained to the Screen Daily website:

“(Tilly is) an act of imagination and crafts, not very different from drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance.”

There is undoubtedly a technique involved in its creation.

But there is also a gray zone – where the code rests on voices, traces and talents of real people, digitally cast and packed in a comedy aesthetics light enough to attenuate criticism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3svo_j4czys

Real -world reaction

Working with actors has always been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career.

At Guildford School of Acting, where I teach, we believe that the art of interpretation is born from the combination of technique, empathy, collaboration and, above all, a genuine search for understanding what it means.

Tilly’s story aroused intense reactions among my students: horror, fear and – perhaps the most disturbing – resignation. A feeling that this can really be the way the creative industry is walking.

The consecrated stars reacted immediately. Upon learning that agents were already trying to represent the “actress”, Emily Blunt vented:

“My God, we’re lost. This is really scary. Come on, agencies, don’t do it. Please stop taking the human connection from us.”

What makes an actor a human being

This human connection is the central point. Russian theatrologist Konstantin Stanislavski, who has always argued that the actor must seek inner truth and humanity in each role, summarized the question well.

In your book AN ACTOR Prepared (1936), wrote:

“Breaking the rule of using your own feelings is equivalent to killing the person you are portraying, because you deprive you of a living and throbbing human soul – the true source of life of a character.”

The danger of programmed perfection

In a recent interview with Jay Shetty’s podcast, actress Emma Watson reflected on how the “movie star” she created herself became almost a mental avatar.

She talked about her trajectory since Harry Potterthe hypersexualization to which it was subjected and the constant scrutiny over their words and attitudes.

For producers, directors and studios, a docile and totally controllable figure like Tilly is a dream: an actress who dispenses with intimacy coordinators, doesn’t deviate from the script on social networks-or perhaps, even more disturbing, can do so under command.

Although the technological feat is remarkable, the choice of creating a young, thin and ethereal actress raises important questions.

Real actors, real dilemmas

In a world where power relations and abuse are finally being denounced by the #Metoo movement, it is not surprising that Tilly Norwood appears – a coded, molded, and controllable actress.

She looks like a person, but in essence she misses it, and will always miss.

Because what makes an actor a true interpreter is something no machine can reproduce: humanity.

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This article was originally published on the academic portal The Conversation and is republished here under Creative Commons license.