Re: R.I.P. James Earl Jones (Star Wars, Lion King, etc.)

On Sat, 28 Sep 2024 20:38:41 +0000,
mummycullen@gmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (MummyChunk) wrote:

>

In article <vboekc>,
 Your Name <YourName> wrote:
 
James Earl Jones' Darth Vader Has Already Been Immortalized

With AI

>

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James Earl Jones died Monday at the age of 93. But long

before he

did, he gave Lucasfilm permission to recreate his iconic

Darth

Vader voice for shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi.
 
If anyone could make the Dark Side sound good, it was James

Earl

Jones. The actor, who died Monday at the age of 93, provided

the

voice for Darth Vader in more than a dozen Star Wars

properties,

from A New Hope to Star Tours. He made the Force sound

ominous in a

way that made it appealing. With his passing, it feels as

though all

the power and gravitas and respect he brought to the

character is

gone.
 
It's not. It's in the hands of AI.
 
A few years ago, when Jones provided a few lines of dialog as

Vader

for The Rise of Skywalker, he'd expressed interest in

wrapping up

his time as the Sith Lord, according to Vanity Fair.

Lucasfilm, in

need of a way to continue the character - and particular to
continue having a version of the character's voice as it

sounded in

those early Star Wars movies - turned to a Ukrainian company

called

Respeecher that used artificial intelligence to make a

recreation of

the Vader voice based on Jones' past performances. (The actor

signed

off on the use of his archive to train the speech model.)
 
Jones' passing marks a pivotal moment in the future of

AI-generated

performances. During last year's prolonged Hollywood actors'

strike,

one of the biggest sticking points between the Screen Actors
Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists,

or

SAG-AFTRA, and the studios was whether or not studios needed

to

secure permission to use a past performance to train AI

models.

Ultimately, SAG won guardrails around the use of AI in

recreating

performances. Now the question is: How will those play out

with

Darth Vader?
 
It's a particularly interesting question when it comes to

voice

acting specifically. The full recreation of vocals may feel

further

along than the full recreation of whole performances, but

they also

feel more poignant.
 
When Paul McCartney used AI to help fashion a Beatles song

from

tapes made when the Fab Four were still alive, the results

felt

haunted. When OpenAI released a demo of its voice assistant

Sky and

Scarlett Johansson believed it sounded much like the voice

she used

in Her, she was "shocked, angered, and in

disbelief" that the

company "would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily

similar to

mine." OpenAI denied she was the inspiration but paused

the demo.

Video game voice actors are on strike right now to get

protections

for their vocal performances. Voices, it seems, are currently

at

their highest value.
 
Ultimately, what will now happen to the Darth Vader voice is

not

really a question of rights-Jones gave permission - but

rather one

of emotion. Will Lucasfilm, or its parent company Disney,

want to

produce future Star Wars shows or movies featuring AI Vader
following Jones' death?
 

 
 
Wasn't that the whole point of securing the rights from Jones

and

creating the AI version in the first place? If Jones's death

makes it

'too creepy' or something to use the AI in new projects, then

what was

the point of doing it all in the first place?
 
With a character as iconic as Vader, should there be a point

at

which fans let go?
 
From Audrey Hepburn selling Dove chocolates to hologram Tupac,
posthumous performances have been a part of pop culture for

years.

But unlike Audrey and Pac, Jones is in on the plan; he is
seemingly the first celebrity to have allowed his iconic

presence

to be recreated with AI before his passing. What will likely
decide how well AI Vader goes over is how it's handled. A

Darth

Vader feature film may not be as warmly received as, say, a

Force

ghost cameo
 

 
 
A Force ghost cameo would have Hayden Christiansen's voice, not

Jones's.

 
or a flashback. It'll be a test to see how welcomed
the character will be now that the man behind it is gone.
 

BTR1701 wrote:
 
 
As a fan, I wouldn't have any problem with it at all since I know

Jones

gave his blessing and was presumably well paid for it.

>
>
The primary goal of securing such rights is often to preserve and
extend the legacy of the individual, allowing their presence to
continue in new projects even after their passing. However, the
emotional impact on audiences and the ethical implications can
complicate this intention. Some people might find it unsettling or
disrespectful to use an AI version of a deceased person, which can
lead to hesitation or backlash.
>
In essence, while the technical and legal groundwork might be in place
to use the AI, the human element—how people feel about it—plays a
crucial role in determining whether it’s appropriate to proceed.
Balancing respect for the individual’s legacy with audience sentiment
is a delicate task.
 
>
This is a response to the post seen at:
http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=673581561#673581561
>

IIRC, the film /Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow/ did something
like that.

Probably without the AI, though.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"