WTF! I bet this wasn’t on your bingo card.
What a strange update we have about the upcoming “Killing Satoshi,” directed by Doug Liman, which, according to Variety, will be filmed entirely with AI background on a “markerless performative capture stage,” with no on-location shooting.
That’s right—the film plans to use AI technology to create backgrounds and scenery, and not just that, to also “tweak” actors’ performances—adjusting lip, facial, and body movements—if needed, of course. This is all being done to “reduce the need for reshoots.”
The film’s producer, Ryan Kavanagh, is attempting to calm the inevitable industry firestorm, stressing that the film will not replace real actors with AI-generated performers. “We will not have any AI-generated actors that do not exist,” he told Variety, emphasizing that AI is being used as a tool to make filmmaking more efficient while protecting jobs.
“Killing Satoshi” begins production in the U.K. from late February through March. Casey Affleck and Pete Davidson star in the film about Bitcoin’s elusive creator. The screenplay comes from Nick Schenk, who penned Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” and “The Mule.” His script reportedly follows a shadowy global network intent on silencing the truth about Bitcoin’s mysterious creator.
Since Bitcoin’s emergence in 2009, Nakamoto has remained an enigma—seen by some as a visionary liberating individuals from traditional finance, and by others as a destabilizing threat to governments and institutions. Analysts believe Nakamoto mined roughly one million Bitcoin in the early years, an untouched fortune now valued at around $64 billion. If still alive, that would make Nakamoto one of the wealthiest people on the planet.
The story being told here sounds promising and is the stuff of fascinating debate—and rabbit holes—but the use of AI is certainly a twist: odd in nature and completely unexpected. I’m sure the upcoming SAG-AFTRA negotiations will have a field day with this one.
It’s been seven years since Alma Har’el’s feature debut, “Honey Boy,” which was written by and starred Shia LaBeouf — she is now set to direct her next film, with a very talented cast.