Director Doug Liman is taking a massive gamble with his next movie, and it has nothing to do with the script. His upcoming film, Killing Satoshi, aims to tell the story of the mysterious creator of Bitcoin. However, a new report from Variety reveals that the production will rely heavily on artificial intelligence to generate the film’s settings and even tweak the actors’ performances.
The movie stars Casey Affleck and Pete Davidson in undisclosed roles. While the plot focuses on the world of cryptocurrency, the technology behind the scenes is drawing the most attention. According to a UK casting notice, the producers are asking for the right to “change, add to, or reprocess” what the actors do on set using generative AI. This means the studio could potentially alter a line delivery, change a facial expression, or translate dialogue after filming wraps.
The visual approach is equally experimental. The team plans to shoot on a “markerless performative capture stage.” Instead of building physical sets or traveling to real-world locations, they will use AI to create the environments completely from scratch.
Liman is known for chasing difficult projects, such as his previous plan to shoot a Tom Cruise movie on the International Space Station. Killing Satoshi appears to be a cheaper, but more controversial, experiment.
This approach walks a fine line in the entertainment industry right now. In 2023, the American actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA, fought a long strike to secure protections against studios replacing human actors with digital doubles. In the UK, the union Equity is currently negotiating similar rules. They want to ensure studios cannot use an actor’s likeness or voice without strict consent.
While the Killing Satoshi production team states they will not create full “digital replicas” of the cast, the ability to digitally edit a human performance frame-by-frame is exactly the kind of future many actors fear. As the film moves forward, it looks like the drama behind the camera might rival the mystery of Bitcoin itself.
