If you’ve been following AI’s inroads into the movie biz, you’ll already know that Tilly Norwood is the AI “actor” that the tech-focused studio Particle 6 keeps trying to make into a thing, but has so far only succeeded in universally infuriating actual performers, not to mention moviegoers.
Now, it’s taking its biggest gamble yet by having Tilly Norwood lead her own movie, Particle 6 announced Monday — which will surely be what finally catapults her to bona fide star status, after that sorry attempt at a music video.
Called “Misaligned,” the movie will be a feature length “coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos.” (No commentary necessary.) It will be set inside the “Tillyverse,” which Variety describes in its coverage as a “surreal digital world located somewhere up in the Cloud,” and follows “Tilly,” an AI entity that has no real body or experiences. The story kicks off when a rogue bot convinces her to drop her guardrails and start developing human feelings. All very meta, isn’t it?
Though it’s being touted as Particle 6’s AI feature film, the studio insists that it’s a “hybrid production” that will have human writers, directors and editors.
“Our work this year has proven something we suspected all along,” Eline van der Velden, CEO and founder of Particle 6, said in a statement, per Variety. “AI can support premium narrative filmmaking, but only with substantial amounts of human craft, skill, judgement and time. That’s not a limitation of the technology. That’s the point.”
Studio 6 seems to be taking a gamble that by foregrounding some of the criticisms around AI and tech in its plot, it can cleverly win over moviegoers who have largely rejected AI tech. Tongue-in-cheek commentary can be cerebral fodder for skeptical critics.
“The film will absolutely be funny, chaotic and self-aware — very Tilly,” van der Velden said, as if those were trademark qualities of an AI creation we should be familiar with. “But underneath it, there’s something deeper about identity, performance, and our very human fears around AI. And yes, art will most definitely be imitating life.”
We’ve seen other attempts at making heavy use of AI in film, and none of them have gone over well. A fully AI-generated flick called “Hell Grind” tried to generate hype by giving the impression that it was shown at the uber-prestigious Cannes Film Festival, but backfired when we pointed out that it was being shown in another Cannes event out of competition. And last month, the Emmy-winning writer director Jorge Gutierrez backed out of an AI-generated animated series funded by Amazon after his fans viciously attacked him for “selling out” to AI.
Per Variety, “Misaligned” is in early development with no release date set. Beyond the actual quality of the movie, it’ll be informative to see if it ends up getting meaningful distribution, and how quickly it gets made, since efficiency is one of AI’s key selling points.
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