Getting Real

We watched Something's Got to Give for the first time a few weeks ago and were chatting about how the caliber of the cast makes what would have otherwise been a garden variety chick-flick, actually shine. I could not image an cast of AI actors being able to match the performance. Emily Blunt, a leading figure in Hollywood, has spoken out strongly against the rise of AI-generated performers, particularly after seeing images of the virtual actress Tilly Norwood. Blunt’s reaction was one of visible alarm, calling the prospect of AI “stars” both “really, really scary” and a direct threat to the human heart of storytelling. She urged Hollywood’s agencies not to sign AI talent, emphasizing that such characters remove the emotional depth and connection that only humans can bring to the screen.

Tilly Norwood was created by Xicoia AI and actress-entrepreneur Eline Van der Velden, who unveiled the character at the Zurich Film Festival and touted her as “the next Scarlett Johansson.” The AI actress, constructed from composites of several young celebrities, immediately drew attention from talent agencies, igniting a firestorm of debate in the industry. Critics, including former child star Mara Wilson, raised ethical questions about the use of hundreds of real women’s faces to generate Tilly, arguing that these opportunities should go to real actors.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) also weighed in, dismissing Tilly Norwood as a computer-generated character with no real life, emotion, or experience. The union argued that while studios may find such entities appealing for their low cost and consistency, audiences remain fundamentally interested in authentic human performances grounded in real experience and emotion, qualities AI cannot replicate.

Yet this backlash overlooks the potential creative and practical advantages of AI-generated performers. Proponents like Van der Velden argue that characters like Tilly Norwood represent not a replacement but a new artistic medium, a form of digital sculpture or animated art. Throughout history, technological advancements have been met with skepticism, yet many become tools for new forms of expression and storytelling. AI talent offers opportunities for experimental narratives, digital activism, and global collaborations unconstrained by physical limitations. Rather than seeing AI as the end of human storytelling, we might view it as a collaborative tool, one that, in the right hands, can expand the canvas of cinematic art, much as animation, CGI, or even sound recording once did. The debate isn’t about erasing humanity from the arts, but about what new stories creative minds can tell with these tools. There is some merit to that argument.