Gal Gadot — her again!— was on the “Happy, Sad, Confused” podcast to promote her Prime Video action movie “The Runner” and the topic of Doug Liman’s “Bitcoin” movie came up.
That’s the film which ignited controversy for using AI to create the movie’s background sets. The cast, which includes Gadot opposite Casey Affleck, Pete Davidson, and Isla Fisher, was shot in a warehouse. The film’s producer, Ryan Kavanaugh, claims the $70M production saved more than $200M by using AI to fill in the production design.
“This was the longest contract I have ever worked on,” Gadot said of the movie. “It was six months from my lawyers to go through every scenario we could think about as far as the AI component of it. I did not want AI to have anything to do with my performance. We had to protect that, to such an extent that SAG called my lawyers to ask for pointers to update the SAG contract to protect other actors. As far as the performances, it’s all me.”
Gadot continued, “I am afraid of AI, but am I going to be afraid and look away? No. I am afraid but I am playing with it and learning it and trying to educate myself. The train has left the station. You’re going to work with it or be out of the game completely. I am trying to make the best of it and protect what I can protect. The AI component in this movie is for sets and the lighting. We had a broad crew and a lot of people were working on this movie.”
Liman filmed the cast in a stripped-down warehouse setting, creating an environment that Gadot likened to theater, where the actors themselves were the primary focus on set.
“It felt like a pure art form of creating a movie,” she explained. “I haven’t seen a single shot. As an actress, I wait so much. There’s the legendary quote: ‘You are being paid to wait as an actor.’ Here we would film nonstop because we didn’t have to wait for lighting. We would film on and on and on for 10 hours. It was amazing… as actors you’re always hot. You don’t cool off. We’ll see. It’s crazy.”
Rather than relying on traditional location shoots, the production is using a “markerless performative capture stage,” a technology-driven approach that allows scenes to be created digitally. The process reportedly reduced production costs dramatically. The film was shot in just 20 days.
In the film, Affleck stars as controversial computer scientist Craig Wright. The story follows a shadowy global network intent on silencing the truth about Bitcoin’s mysterious creator — Satoshi Nakamoto. Davidson portrays blockchain investor Calvin Ayre, while Gadot plays Charlotte “Lotte” Miller. The screenplay comes from Nick Schenk, best known for “Gran Torino.”
“Bitcoin” currently does not have U.S. distribution. Which studio will want to touch this film — Vertical Entertainment, Ketchup Entertainment, or Briarcliff Entertainment?
So, those of you who went this weekend: what did you make of it? Where do you land on Holmes, and — most fascinatingly — on Billy Evans, her sniffling, controlling, weirdo husband?