Matthew McConaughey and Timothée Chalamet are urging young people to step up and lead the entertainment industry through the rise of AI.
At a town hall event held by Variety and CNN at the University of Texas at Austin that reunited the “Dallas Buyers Club” Oscar winner and his “Interstellar” co-star Chalamet, McConaughey explained the thought process behind his recent move to trademark the tagline “Dazed and Confused.”
“It’s coming. It’s already there,” he said in response to a student’s question about AI. “Don’t be in denial. It’s not enough to just stand by and morally say, ‘No, this is wrong.’ That won’t last. There’s too much money to be made, too much productivity. So I say, ‘Be yourself.’ voice, appearance, etc. Please trademark it. Whatever you have to do, do it and no one can steal you. ”
“CNN & Variety Town Hall Event: Timothée Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey” will air on CNN on Saturday, February 21st at 7pm and streamed on the CNN app. Chalamet and McConaughey reunited to discuss McConaughey’s performance in Marty Supreme, for which McConaughey was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor.
Speaking with Chalamet at City Hall, McConaughey gave an example of an AI scenario he envisions coming to fruition in the future. “They have to come to you and say, ‘Timothy, I want you to come to my 50th birthday party in five months, and I’m going to the Bahamas. I know you can’t be there in person, but I’m going to say hello to you, and I want you to be your character on ‘Marty Supreme,'” he said. “They can do it, but they have to come to you and say, ‘Can I do it?'” Otherwise it would be a violation. And you’ll have the chance to become your own agent and say, “Yes, for this amount.” Or, “No.” ”
McConaughey also thought about the idea of AI “replacing” actors and how that technology might factor into the awards conversation.
“It’s definitely going to permeate our category. Will it become a separate category? Will there be a ‘best AI movie’ in five years? Will there be a ‘best AI actor’?” he said. “Maybe. I think it might be. It will be a different category. It will appear before us in a way that we can’t even see. It will be so good that we won’t know the difference. That’s one of the big problems right now. Real problems. It’s more nebulous than ever – I think in a very exciting way, but also in a scary way. Be prepared to own your lane so you can at least have some independence when it starts. ”
Chalamet echoed this sentiment, telling the university audience that Generation Z will bear the brunt of teaching society how to live with AI, and that older generations must support them in that regard.
“This is going to carry out all of our wars — it may sound confrontational, I don’t mean that — but it’s a double responsibility,” Chalamet said. “Unfortunately, for your generation, I think it’s up to you to figure out how to integrate it. (Responsibility for) people who are currently in positions of power, like me and Matthew, need to be kept safe so that the doors remain open. Some of the roles I’ve had have helped launch my career, and I don’t even know if they’re available today.”
“I feel like there’s a level of fatalism to me,” Chalamet continued. “It’s up to your generation, and to some extent my generation, to know how to ethically integrate it or abolish it. But the fatalist in me feels something like this is coming. And the fatalist in me feels that something like this is coming. The dreamer wants to say, “Hey, if this allows a 19-year-old to create something he couldn’t otherwise do with gatekeepers standing in his way, that’s a good thing.” But ultimately that’s not my position. ”
Recalling the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, Chalamet said, “In the last Screen Actors Guild negotiations, when Fran Drescher tried to start negotiations with the studios, that was a dangerous outcome. They didn’t really get the Screen Actors Guild protections that she was looking for.[AI]is something that’s hard to argue against. It’s like[silent era filmmakers]saying, ‘No, the sound is messed up, we are.'” You can’t do that. ” Or when you go from black and white to color. “No, the colors are messed up.” That would be the (studio’s) argument. ”
Chalamet concluded that while the current focus is on preparing for the potential harms of AI, he believes the industry will find a healthy way to embrace it.
“I want to keep the door open for everyone, but someone will find a way to do it all at once,” he said. “I’m fiercely protective of the actors and artists in this industry. And likewise, whatever tide comes along, it’s going to come.”
Watch a clip of McConaughey and Chalamet’s conversation about AI below.
