The idea of an artificial intelligence-generated actress potentially getting representation did not sit well with the Hollywood community, with actors Melissa Barrera, Lukas Gage and Simu Liu among the critics who railed against the prospect.
Dutch actress, comedian and digital producer Eline Van der Velden, who created Norwood, made the bold claim over the weekend at a Zurich summit that the AI actress will be signed by an agency “in the coming months.”
“Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$,” “Scream” actress Melissa Barrera said on Instagram in response. “How gross, read the room.”
The quick and vocal reaction puts a spotlight on the underlying concern that Hollywood — and most people — have about AI: That it’s coming for our jobs. The idea of an AI-generated character garnering interest from talent agencies reinforces the notion that no one is safe.
Van der Velden told Broadcast International she hopes Norwood will be “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman.” She said audiences will ultimately determine whether AI talent succeeds. “Audiences care about the story — not whether the star has a pulse,” she wrote on LinkedIn.
It turns out, actors and other folks in Hollywood care if there is a pulse, and are voicing their concerns on social media.
“Not an actress actually,” “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” actor Nicholas Alexander Chavez said. “Nice try.”
“She was a nightmare to work with,” added “Road House” actor Lukas Gage.
“Movies are great but you know what would be better is if the characters in them weren’t played by actual humans but by AI replicas approximating human emotion,” “Shang Chi” actor Simu Liu said on his Instagram story.
“Pretty telling that the industries first venture into this was to create a teenage girl they could control,” screenwriter Brian Duffield said on X.
“Maltilda” actress Mara Wilson added: “What about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?”
A public Instagram account for Norwood had just over 19,000 followers at press time. The character’s Facebook account boasts 16 friends; her last post was July 30, with 10 likes and four comments.
Van der Velden did not name any agencies, or specify whether they were among Hollywood’s major talent stables. The former actor, with a small handful of Dutch TV credits which she produced, wrote, directed and starred in, recently launched Xicoia, an “AI talent studio.”
