The actor Keanu Reevesis recognized around the world and stood out for his commitment to each of his projects, but ultimately he made it very clear that he was NOT interested in the new era where actors are aged or digitally altered when they come out on screen.
So much so, moreover, that the actor has decided to legally prohibit anyone from digitally manipulating his image, and this is how he recently revealed during an interview with the director of John Wick: Chapter 4, Chad Stahelskithe premise of which was how the duo grew one of the most profitable action brands today, without relying heavily on technology and digital visual effects.
Until the actor confirmed that there was a clause in his contract about digital manipulation, and the actor explained, “I don’t care if anyone blinks during an edit. They have changed a performance. (He doesn’t say which one.) They added that a tear rolled down my face, and I was like, “Huh? “It was like I didn’t even need to be here.”
The conversation shifted to modern times and the technologies that allow things like deepfakes to exist. Doing projects like The Matrix movies (which used substantial new cinematic technology to tell a story about the dangers of technology) left Reeves with a keen awareness and unease about how cinematic technology is used:
“The frustrating thing about it (deepfakes) is you lose your agency,” Reeves explained. “When you perform in a movie, you know you’re going to be edited, but you’re in on it. If you go to the land of fakes, he has none of your opinions. It’s scary. It’s going to be interesting to see how humans deal with these technologies.
“They have both cultural and sociological impacts, and the species is being studied. There is so much ‘data’ on behaviors now. Technologies are finding a place in our education, in our medicine, in our entertainment, in our politics, and in the way we wage war and work.”
Deepfake technology has put Hollywood in the spotlight first and foremost as “fans” have used the technology to effectively copy and paste actors’ faces or full-length images onto other performances. The situation has become an annoying problem, which has inevitably shifted to the adult entertainment industry or any type of unauthorized content.