Nicolas Cage sounded the alarm on the “inhumane” use of digital editing in Hollywood and beyond in a new interview published Wednesday.
The famous actor spoke out about how AI and CGI have affected him in his career during the interview with Yahoo Entertainment. He revealed that at least one of the scenes filmed during his cameo appearance as Superman in “The Flash” did not actually happen.
“When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did,” Cage told the outlet.
Cage unpacked how the scene unfolded in real life.
“What I was supposed to do was literally just be standing in an alternate dimension, if you will, and witnessing the destruction of the universe. Kal-El was bearing witness [to] the end of a universe, and you can imagine with that short amount of time that I had, what that would mean in terms of what I can convey,” he said.
“I had no dialogue [so had to] convey with my eyes the emotion. So that’s what I did. I was on set for maybe three hours,” Cage continued.
Then, when he saw the film, Cage was apparently confused as to how that simple scene had somehow transformed into a spider fight scene.
Cage explained the type of digital editing he believes went into the project.
“I don’t think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim [Burton] is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, okay, so that they could de-age me, and I’m fighting a spider. I didn’t do any of that, so I don’t know what happened there, he said.
Cage debunked rumors that he didn’t even have to show up for filming. “First and foremost, I was on set,” he said.
Speaking about filmmaker Tim Burton, Cage said, “But I get where Tim’s coming from. I know what he means. I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I’m with him in that regard.”
“AI is a nightmare to me. It’s inhumane. You can’t get more inhumane than artificial intelligence,” he continued. (RELATED: ‘I Want Your Daughter’: AI Was Creepy Enough Already, But Sean Penn Just Made It A Billion Times Creepier)
“But I don’t think it [was] AI [in ‘The Flash’],” Cage continued. “I just think that they did something with it, and again, it’s out of my control. I literally went to shoot a scene for maybe an hour in the suit, looking at the destruction of a universe and trying to convey the feelings of loss and sadness and terror in my eyes. That’s all I did.”