Tom Hanks Says He Could Still Star in Movies After His Death, Thanks to AI

Tom Hanks recognizes — and appreciates — the power of artificial intelligence.

On an episode of The Adam Buxton Podcast released Sunday, the two-time Academy Award-winning actor chatted about the future of filmmaking the role AI will play.

"This has always been lingering," Hanks, 66, said. "The first time we did a movie that had a huge amount of our own data locked in a computer — literally what we looked like — was a movie called The Polar Express."

Hanks continued: "We saw this coming. We saw that there was going to be this ability in order to take zeros and ones inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character. Now, that has only grown a billionfold since then and we see it everywhere."

The Forest Gump actor then said this shift inevitably affects contracts and how they need to protect actors' likenesses as intellectual property.

"I can tell you that there [are] discussions going on in all of the guilds, all of the agencies, and all of the legal firms in order to come up with the legal ramifications of my face and my voice — and everybody else's — being our intellectual property," Hanks said.

"What is a bona fide possibility right now, if I wanted to, [is] I could get together and pitch a series of seven movies that would star me in them in which I would be 32 years old from now until kingdom come," the actor explained to host Adam Buxton.

"Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are, by way of AI or deep fake technology… I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that's it, but my performances can go on and on and on," he pondered. "Outside of the understanding that it's been done by AI or deep fake, there'll be nothing to tell you that it's not me and me alone, and it's going to have some degree of lifelike quality."

Hanks and Buxton also chatted about whether the audience will be able to tell the difference between a real Hanks performance and an AI Hanks performance.

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"Without a doubt people will be able to tell, but the question is, will they care?" Hanks said. "There are some people that won't care, that won't make that delineation."

Hanks and Robin Wright will be experimenting with new technology for an upcoming project together.

Both will be de-aged as their reunite with Forrest Gump director Robert Zemeckis' for his upcoming film, Here. The two will be joined by Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly in the adaptation of Richard McGuire's comic set in one room over a number of years. The movie is set to come out in 2024.

The production company is partnering with Metaphysic, an AI company famous for its @DeepTomCruise accounts on social media, especially TikTok where it has amassed a following of 5 million users. The company also gained popularity on America's Got Talent for its deepfakes.

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Here will use the new tool Metaphysic Live to de-age the stars without any need for VFX or further work, according to a release.

"I've always been attracted to technology that helps me to tell a story," Zemeckis said in a statement. "With Here, the film simply wouldn't work without our actors seamlessly transforming into younger versions of themselves. Metaphysic's AI tools do exactly that, in ways that were previously impossible!"

He added, "Having tested every flavor of face replacement and de-aging technology available today, Metaphysic are clearly the global leaders in feature-quality AI content and the perfect choice for this incredibly challenging, emotional film."