“Lord of the Rings” filmmaker Peter Jackson doesn’t “dislike” AI being used in film — but he thinks it’s a shame that the debate surrounding it is partly why Andy Serkis will never win awards for his motion-capture performance as Gollum.
Speaking at a Cannes Film Festival masterclass the day after he was bestowed an Honorary Palme d’Or, Jackson said that though AI is “going to destroy the world,” when it comes to its use in film, “I don’t dislike it at all.”
“I mean, to me, it’s just a special effect,” Jackson said. “It’s no different from other special effects.”
However, he said that it’s “absolutely critical” to protect actors’ rights from having their likenesses stolen and used in films without their permission. “If you’re doing an AI duplicate of somebody, like Indiana Jones or anyone else, as long as you’ve licensed the rights off the person who you’re showing, I don’t see the issue,” Jackson said. “It’s when people’s likenesses get stolen and usurped.”
But one downside to the current debate around AI in Hollywood is its impact on awards recognition for motion-capture performances, like Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” films.
“A lot of the current environment, everyone’s so worried about AI … I don’t think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope for winning any awards,” he said. “Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it’s not an AI-generated performance, it’s a human-generated performance 100% of the way.”
Jackson also teased the upcoming “The Hunt for Gollum” film, which Serkis is directing and starring in. Asked why Jackson decided to let Serkis take the helm, he said: “The film is about Gollum’s psychological and addiction. I thought, ‘Andy knows this guy better than anybody.’ So I actually I didn’t think much of me [directing the new movie]. I thought the most exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis makes it.”
Jackson was presented his honorary Palme by “Lord of the Rings” star Elijah Wood on Tuesday night during the festival’s opening ceremony.
“You showed the world something it had never seen before, and nothing was ever the same,” Wood, who famously played Frodo Baggins in the trilogy, told his director, adding: “He helped build an entirely new filmmaking culture at the far edge of the world.”
In his speech, Jackson recalled that the decision to shoot most of the three “Lord of the Rings” films was a “huge gamble,” dubbed a “folly” by the media that predicted the expensive might prove to be a disaster if the first movie wasn’t a hit. However, he said that the narrative changed in Cannes 25 years ago in 2001, when he showed 20 minutes of footage from the “The Fellowship of the Ring” to a rapturous reception. “It changed the perception of the film,” he said.