Samuel L. Jackson Takes Stand Against Allowing AI to Portray Him Once He Dies

Award-winning actor Samuel L. Jackson says he won’t allow himself to be brought back into a movie once he dies with AI. The use of AI in Hollywood has accelerated tremendously over the last couple of years, most recently with Harrison Ford’s de-aging in the latest Indiana Jones film.

In an interview with Rolling Stone that was published on Tuesday, the Star Wars Jedi said he was shocked by what the likes of Tom Hanks have said on the subject. While speaking with the paper, he admitted that he had concerns about AI and movies since his time working with George Lucas on the prequel trilogy.

Jackson said in part, “People just started worrying about that? I asked about that a long time ago. The first time I got scanned for George Lucas, I was like, ‘What’s this for?‘”.He would add, “George and I are good friends, so we kind of had a laugh about it because I thought he was doing it because he had all those old guys in ‘Episode I,’ and if something happened to them, he still wanted to put ’em in the movie.”

It’s an interesting coincidence since, fellow Star Wars alum, James Earl Jones, is taking the opposite approach. Lending his powerful voice to a Ukrainian startup, the Oscar winner hopes that AI technology will keep the legendary voice of Darth Vader alive long after he passes.

But for Samuel L. Jackson, he’s worried about actors in the future. During the interview, said that he reads over contracts an takes the time to remove clauses that allow studios to use his image “in perpetuity“. In short, likely after his death. “Future actors should do what I always do when I get a contract, and it has the words ‘in perpetuity’ and ‘known and unknown’ on it: I cross that shit out,” said the actor. “It’s my way of saying, ‘No, I do not approve of this.'”

He isn’t the only actor who takes a cautious approach to AI. Fellow John Wick actor, Keanu Reeves, has similar worries and also makes sure that any and all contracts remove certain aspects of AI use on the actor. Early this year, he pointed to how “scary” Deep Fakes were.

AI is still a new tool in Hollywood, and it’s likely, much like CGI, it’ll find its spot within the industry. Though it seems the verdict is spit among actors.