- Deepfake tech was used to replace over 30 uses of the F-word in the upcoming movie, "Fall."
- The director, Scott Mann, is also the co-CEO of the artificial-intelligence company Flawless.
An upcoming thriller movie used deepfake technology to alter over 30 uses of the F-word to lower its rating from an R to a PG-13.
The movie, "Fall" from the studio Lionsgate, comes to theaters on Friday. It focuses on two women who climb a 2,000-foot-tall radio tower and become trapped at the top after the ladder breaks.
The movie's director, Scott Mann, is also the co-CEO of Flawless, a London-based company that specializes in artificial-intelligence tech for film and TV. Rather than inflate the budget with reshoots, deepfake tech was used to replace the many F-bombs in the movie with alternative words like "freaking."
"For a movie like this, we can't reshoot it, " Mann said in a behind-the-scenes feature on the movie (via Variety). "We're not a big tentpole, we don't have the resources, we don't have the time, more than anything else. What really saved this movie and brought it into a wider audience was technology."
"Fall" had a small $3 million budget, according to Variety, but reshoots would still be costly, especially in such an unpredictable theatrical market.
Typically, only one use of the F-word is allowed in a PG-13 movie, and the studio wanted that instead of an R-rating to appeal to a wider audience.
"When we were filming the movie, we didn't know if we were R or if we were PG-13, so I said the F-word so many times I think Scott wanted to kill me in post when we were trying to get a PG-13 rating," star Virginia Gardner said.
Another star, Grace Caroline Currey, said that she couldn't tell that technology was used to alter her dialogue.
"As far as I know, every movement my mouth made in that movie, my mouth made," Currey said.
Similar technology has become more and more prevalent throughout movies and TV, and it's not just relegated to low-budget projects. The "Star Wars" franchise in particular has utilized various ways to bring back classic characters.
In "The Book of Boba Fett," for instance, a young Luke Skywalker appears, but actor Mark Hamill's voice was artificially created to sound younger using past recordings.