Claims that Bruce Willis sold his digital likeness to deepfake company Deepcake have been vehemently denied by Willis. The denial comes days after it was claimed that the renowned Die Hard actor had given his blessing for the use of his likeness in future on-screen appearances. The astonishing capacity of deepfake technology to replace one person’s image with another using artificial intelligence has made it a global phenomenon. The actor’s publicist later denied the rumour. Willis’s rep responded in a letter to The Hollywood Reporter that the actor “has no relationship or agreement with this Deepcake firm.”
A publicist for Deepcake informed the magazine that Willis owns his digital twin by default, thus he cannot sell the rights to it. The agent continued by saying that the actor’s digital image was designed only for advertising campaigns in 2021 and that any further use of the digital version would be at his discretion. The actor denies selling rights to have a “digital twin” of himself developed by Deepcake, a company that claims it creates “digital twins of individuals you won’t be able to differentiate from real.” After being used for the first time in a commercial for Russian phone company MegaFon in 2021, a statement on their website indicated Willis had given his consent for his digital twin.
According to the quotes given to Willis, he found the experience to be “quite unique and exciting” and admired the “accuracy with which my character turned out.” Willis’s family made the announcement earlier this year that he was retiring from acting due to his aphasia. In addition to affecting one’s capacity to speak and understand language, this disorder also impairs one’s ability to process the thoughts and intentions of others.
Even though the news was a shock to Willis’s many fans throughout the world, his legacy will live on. The Emmy-winning actor has left an indelible imprint on Hollywood; his filmography has an impressive 100+ titles, and he is widely regarded as an antiheroic master. His most famous roles are in the blockbuster movies Die Hard (1988), Pulp Fiction (1994), The Sixth Sense (1999), and Unbreakable (2000). In 2006, Willis was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a permanent monument to the actor’s contributions to the film industry.