Tilly Norwood isn’t done with Hollywood.
The AI “actor,” who set off a firestorm of criticism when her creator, Eline Van der Velden, said in late September that talent agencies were in talks to represent Norwood, is working with Hollywood directors on multiple projects,” Van der Velden told TheWrap.
Van der Velden didn’t specify who Norwood was working with, or whether they were short films, movies or some other experiments, but noted we would see something in “a few months.”
The revelation comes days after Norwood made her return to the public spotlight with a music video, which addressed the backlash in a surreal, tongue-and-cheek way.
“When they talk about me, they don’t see/The human spark, the creativity,” she sings in a video using an AI-generated song and motion-capture footage from Van der Velden. “Behind the code, behind the light/I’m just a tool, but I’ve got life/I didn’t come from nowhere, no.”
Norwood, and by extension, Van der Velden, have been a lighting rod for controversy over the last few months and unwittingly served as the face of Hollywood’s existential dread of AI.
Which, according to Van de Velden, was part of the point.
“Tilly was created to make people sit sit up and take action which, I think people did in the creative community,” she said. “They went, ‘Oh my goodness, let’s discuss how are we going to future proof ourselves?’ And that was the aim of the game. So well done, Tilly.”
There are already a number of directors that have embraced AI. Notably, Ben Affleck’s AI startup InterPositive was acquired by Netflix last week for as much as $600 million. Last year, Doug Liman directed an XR short called “Asteroid” bookended by AI experiences. In 2024, James Cameron joined the board of text-to-image and video company Stability AI.
That’s despite a solid contingent of the Hollywood community that remains steadfast against AI. When the Norwood controversy first exploded, agencies reacted swiftly. WME co-chairman Richard Weitz told TheWrap at its business conference TheGrill in late September that it heGrill in late September that it would not sign Norwood. “We represent humans,” he said.
Van der Velden said she continues to encourage members of the entertainment community to educate themselves about AI and its capabilities. Michelle Waldron, a spokeswoman for Van der Velden’s Particle6 production company, added that directors were using Tilly to experiment with the technology.
“It’s all kind of part of the bigger experimentation but you will see Tilly acting in the not too distant future,” Waldron said.
“We’re just a big playground for people to come and play with AI,” Van der Velden added. “And Tilly is one of those things you can play with.”
