Millionaire celebrity who starred in movie premiere says most co-stars can be replaced: 'It costs millions of dollars'

Kevin O'Leary, one of the best-known businessmen in the United States, is trying to promote the movie “Marty Supreme” in which he played in a style typical for him: pragmatic and profit-oriented, writes Variety. The investor and “Shark Tank” host, who is making his feature film debut with Timothée Chalamet, suggested that movies like his could “save millions of dollars” if they replaced human extras with artificial intelligence (AI) doubles.

In an interview with the podcast World of Travel of The Hill, O'Leary talked about his own investments in artificial intelligence, using “Marty Supreme” as an example to discuss the technology's potential applications in the film industry.

“Almost every scene had up to 150 extras. Those people have to stay awake for 18 hours in full costume in the background. [Ei] they don't necessarily appear in the film, but they are needed there, moving. And yet it costs millions of dollars to do that,” O'Leary said. “Why couldn't you just put AI agents in their place? Because they're not the main actors. They're just visually present in the story. [Așa ai putea] save millions of dollars, and more films could be produced. The same director, instead of spending 90 million or whatever he spent, could have made two films with 35 million,” he stated.

So-called AI “agents” are artificial intelligence systems or programs that can act autonomously or semi-autonomously to complete certain tasks. Unlike a simple chatbot or passive algorithm, an AI agent is designed to “do things” without being given instructions every step of the way.

The millionaire gave the example of an AI “actress”.

O'Leary then brought up the case of Tilly Norwood, an AI “actress” introduced in September who caused a stir in Hollywood over suggestions she could be used to stand in for human actors.

The SAG-AFTRA union reacted promptly, condemning the early-stage production and stating that it “jeopardizes actors' livelihoods and devalues ​​the human artistry.”

In the interview with The Hill, O'Leary misspelled the character's name, referring to Tilly Norwood as “Tilly Norwell”.

“She's 100% AI. She doesn't exist. But she's a great actress. She can appear at any age you want. She doesn't need to eat, so she can work 24 hours a day. The union is driving her crazy,” O'Leary said.

“I would argue, for the sake of art, that it should be allowed [inteligența artificială] in certain cases. An extra is a very good example, because you can't tell the difference,” O'Leary added. “Put 100 Tilly Norwells in there and you're done,” insisted the businessman with a fortune estimated by Fortune magazine at $400 million.

O'Leary starred in a movie with Timothée Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow

Marty Supremethe film in which O'Leary starred, had a production budget of more than $60 million, making it the most expensive film ever produced by A24 – a studio renowned for its blockbuster films produced on small or modest budgets by Hollywood standards.

Among his productions or films he has distributed are Everything Everywhere All At Oncethe big winner of the 2023 Academy Awards, The Whalethe film that earned actor Brendan Frasier his first Academy Award, Civil Warthe feature film that enjoyed a success beyond expectations in cinemas last year, A Different Manthe title that brought the Romanian actor Sebastian Stan the first Golden Globe in his career, The Brutalistthe film for which Adrien Brody won his second Academy Award, and The Legend of Eyesa feature film shot entirely in Romania.

The story from the new movie Marty Supreme is set in the 1950s and stars Timothée Chalamet as a talented and highly ambitious young man in the world of table tennis. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his girlfriend, and O'Leary plays her character's husband.

The film is due to be released in US theaters on Christmas Day and will probably be seen in Romania around that time or a bit later, as it does not currently have an international distributor.