‘Synthespian’ Marilyn Monroe not yet ready
Many people seemed caught by surprise, movie critics among them, to see the late Paul Walker as such a prominent presence in Furious 7.
Walker seems abundantly alive and kicking in this latest chapter of the muscle-car action franchise, which currently tops the North American box office. This is so even though Walker tragically died midway through filming in late 2013, with just half of his scenes completed.
The film’s producers managed to fill in the gaps through a combination of brilliant CGI work, outtakes and stand-ins, the latter being Walker’s two lookalike brothers, Caleb and Cody. Paul’s face was digitally grafted onto the heads of Caleb and Cody in some scenes.
The most noteworthy thing about Walker’s Furious 7 resurrection was not that it was done — the basic techniques have been used for years — but how well it was done.
The digital tools exist to magically resurrect the dead on film, but Hollywood has yet to take the next big leap: to create an entire movie featuring a famous dead star who has been realistically digitized back into existence.
Why have we not seen all-new films starring a virtual Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne or other departed fan favourites?
These so-called “synthespians” used to be a Holy Grail of the digital revolution, at least as far back as 1995. That’s when MIRALab, a multi-discipline research facility at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, created the short film Marilyn by the Lake, in which a digital clone of Marilyn Monroe walks by aston- ished onlookers (You can see it on YouTube).
It was billed as the “first film to mix virtual people with real ones on a real décor,” and it’s impressive by 1995 standards, but not by 2015 ones. A much more realistic Monroe could be fashioned today, but is that something people would really want to see?
I asked this question recently of two people who have serious professional interest in the matter: Pete Docter of Disney/Pixar and Doug Chiang, the concept artist behind many groundbreaking digital images seen in the Star Wars and Terminator franchises, as well as Forrest Gump and Beowulf. Docter and Chiang seemed to have remarkably different opinions as to the feasibility and desirability of synthespian movie stars.
“It’s never been very interesting to us,” said Docter, whose resumé includes writing and directing the Oscar-nominated Up and the new Inside Out, due June 19.
“I’m more interested in seeing the interpretation of the world as seen through the eyes of artists, and if you want real actors you’re going to do much better to hire real actors. There are always exceptions: There are great stuntmen who are digital, and there might be some stories that might really need to be told (in a virtual way). But personally, I don’t even think it’s doable.”
It’s surprising to hear him say this, because Docter was one of the animators of Geri’s Game, a 1997 Pixar short about an old man playing chess in a park that won that year’s Oscar for Best Animated Short. Directed by Jan Pinkava ( Ratatouille), the film was especially noteworthy for its realistic skin tones. Getting the skin tone right, and avoiding what’s called the “uncanny valley” where it seems weird to viewers, had long been deemed one of the major roadblocks to creating a believable synthespian.
If Docter ever was in favour of synthespians, he’s changed his mind. He’s not looking forward to the advent of a believable digital clone of Monroe or Bogart.
“Even if you could successfully make people believe that that is Humphrey Bogart, and we’ve haven’t got there yet, you would never be able to replicate the thinking that Humphrey Bogart as a person, as an actor, brought to the screen. You could replicate stuff that he’s done in the past, choices he’s made, but you could not bring him any further because he’s gone.” Chiang would beg to differ. He’s been involved in creating characters and images for the Star Wars franchise, including the upcoming The Force Awakens, and he was involved in such CGI landmarks as the liquid metal cyborg in Terminator 2, way back in 1991, and the more recent 3D characters of Beowulf, which were modeled on such real human actors as Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie.
“I think it’s going to happen,” Chiang says of synthespians.
“Ray doesn’t look like the Beowulf that (director Robert Zemeckis) envisioned for the movie. We had to create a digital version of the iconic hero. But it was performed by a really strong character actor.
“So I think in those cases, once the technique evolves and the filmmaking tools evolve, it just gives the director the ability to create ideal characters and not be limited by physical casting. I think that’s where the medium is going to really take off.”
Chiang predicts that we’ll see a synthespian Marilyn Monroe or Humphrey Bogart starring in their own new movies “in maybe five or 10 years.” But he cautions that it shouldn’t be done just to show off technology.
“The caveat (about digital resurrection) is that it is just a tool and it should only be used if it services the story.”
What do real actors think about synthespian ones? As it happens, I was talking this week to Oscar Isaac, star of Ex Machina, which opens April 24 in Toronto. He plays a scientist who creates a stunningly realistic and life-like cyborg, Ava, played by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander.
Isaac admitted he hadn’t even heard the term “synthespian” before.
“I haven’t heard that one, although I feel like I’ve worked with a few of them!” he joked. But he’s not worried about being replaced by either a virtual actor or a robot one.
“I think that ultimately every story you tell is about being human,” he said.
“It’s what our preoccupation is, just an expression of what our existence is.
“I think there will always be a place for human expression in the arts.”
Reassuring thoughts, as we march ever more boldly toward a digital world. Follow Peter Howell on Twitter: @peterhowellfilm