Kevin O’Leary delivered one of the first promotional plugs for A24’s “Marty Supreme” in typical business-minded fashion. The financier and Shark Tank host, who is making his feature film debut in Timothée Chalamet’s new film, suggested that movies like his could “save millions of dollars” by replacing background actors with AI-generated stand-ins.
In an interview on the Oct. 16 episode of The Hill’s “World of Travel: The Podcast,” O’Leary talked about his investments in AI and used “Marty Supreme” as an example to discuss the potential implementation of the technology in the film industry.
“We had 150 extras in almost every scene, and they had to stay up for 18 hours and be totally in the background. (They) aren’t necessarily in the movie, but they have to be there and move around, and it still costs millions of dollars to do that,” O’Leary said. “Why couldn’t you just put an AI agent in their place? Because they’re not the protagonists. They’re just visually present in the story.[You]could have made more movies because you’d save millions of dollars. Instead of the same director spending $90 million or something, you could have spent $35 million and made two movies.”
Mr O’Leary also brought up Tilly Norwood, the AI ”actress” announced by Comedy Sketch at September’s Zurich Summit, which he claimed was being signed by Hollywood agencies. SAG-AFTRA quickly issued a statement condemning this initial product, saying it was “putting performers’ livelihoods at risk and diminishing the value of human artistry.”
In a comment to The Hill, O’Leary incorrectly referred to Tillie Norwood as “Tilly Norwell.”
“She’s 100% AI. She doesn’t exist. But she’s a great actress. She can be any age you want. She doesn’t have to eat, so she works 24 hours a day. The union is out of their heads,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary went on to bring up his company, known as The Velvet Sundown, which releases AI-generated music. Once again, O’Leary incorrectly referred to a fictional band as “Velvet Sunset.”
“Velvet Sunset are currently in the top 10% of all downloads. And it’s complete BS. They don’t exist. It’s just AI music,” O’Leary continued. “It’s almost here. You can’t stop technology from advancing, so I’m spending a lot of time investing.”
Marty Supreme had a production budget of over $60 million, making it A24’s most expensive film in history. The film is a historical drama set in the 1950s, with Chalamet playing a young table tennis prodigy with unwavering ambition and up-and-coming talent. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Paltrow’s lover, and O’Leary plays Paltrow’s husband. It will be released in theaters on Christmas Day.
“For the sake of the art, I would argue that[AI]should be allowed in certain cases. Extras are a really good case because you can’t tell the difference,” O’Leary continued. “Just put 100 bottles of Norwell Tilly in there and you’ll be fine.”
Mr O’Leary also said he was using AI to create his own fax machines and was seeking full citizenship in the United Arab Emirates as the industry grows overseas.
“We’re deploying AI Kevin right now, and we did that in Abu Dhabi. We’ll be back there in a few weeks. We’ll be training the model further,” O’Leary said. “The challenge with AI is that, thanks to voice, most people can now tell the difference between fake and real. But the next iteration of the model is coming in about a week. That’s how fast AI is progressing. This next AI, Kevin, you won’t be able to tell the difference.”
