Pete Davidson Bitcoin Biopic ‘Killing Satoshi’ to Use AI Locations

The upcoming Bitcoin biopic from director Doug Liman and producer Ryan Kavanaugh has disclosed in a U.K. casting notice that the indie film may use AI to “adjust” some performances. Actors will also perform on a “markerless performative capture stage and not in any locations, using new Al technologies.”

The casting notice states actors that the film’s producers reserve the right to “change, add to, take from, translate, reformat or reprocess” their performances using “generative artificial intelligence (GAI) and/or machine learning technologies,” including to adjust lip, facial and body movements. It confirms that AI won’t be used to create a “recognizable and identifiable digital replica” of an actor’s voice or likeness without “prior written consent.”

In a statement, producer Ryan Kavanaugh told Variety: “We were very cautious, sensitive and overly protective of our actors to make sure we only use performance capture AI which means that we will not have any AI-generated actors that do not exist. AI is a tool we’re using to make the filmmaking process more efficient while maintaining all department heads’ jobs, all actor jobs and hopefully helping to grow the industry in a positive way.”

The casting notice also states that any performers who agree to sign on to the film “acknowledge they may be sharing scenes with AI-generated performers.” However a source close to the film tells Variety references to AI actors in the casting notice were included in error and that no Tilly Norwood-style creations will be used for the movie.

“It’s not accurate,” said the production source. “Every actor in this movie will be a [real] actor that is acting….You couldn’t get it to a spec you needed for a movie, creating a full AI actor.”

The source did confirm “Killing Satoshi” would be entirely creating the backgrounds and scenery in AI, with no shooting on location, and that AI would be used to tweak actors’ performances in place of re-shoots if necessary. “They won’t be made to say anything they didn’t say but let’s say the way they said it in conjunction with the movement doesn’t look perfect, you wouldn’t need to reshoot it. We’d just use AI to make it look better.”

The issues for actors raised by the disclosures in the “Killing Satoshi” casting notice go squarely to the heart of the compensation and consent debate that is winding its way through copyright claims in the federal courts and also via labor union contract negotiations, particularly in creative industries. SAG-AFTRA, which started film and TV contract negotiations with the major studios and streamers on Feb. 9, is wrestling deeply with where to draw the line on the reuse and repurposing of existing material. The issue of “synthetic” performances versus human labor is fueling SAG-AFTRA and other unions’ efforts to find contractual and legislative means of achieving name/image/likeness protections for actors at all levels in the industry.

“Killing Satoshi” is about to go into production in the U.K. and the casting notice is looking for supporting actors who are available from the end of this month through March. As Variety exclusively revealed last year, Davidson and Affleck take top billing in the film about mysterious Bitcoin creator who launched the decentralized finance crypto currency revolution with a 2008 white paper under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. The pursuit of the true identity of Nakamoto has become to the digital generation what the search for Deep Throat was to the Watergate generation. It’s been the subject of countless books, articles, documentaries and Reddit threads.

“Killing Satoshi” is financed through Kavanaugh’s production company Proxima in conjunction with Aperture Media Partners. “Gran Torino” scribe Nick Schenk wrote the screenplay. Dixie Chassay is casting the project.