Bill Hader thinks the idea of deepfake videos is "so strange." He hasn't watched any of the viral videos that include his likeness. (Photo: NINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE)
Bill Hader has long been known as a skilled impressionist. But distorting his face to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s? That’s beyond even his skill set.
It is something that a video producer with artificial intelligence software can do, however.
In a few deepfake videos posted online, the YouTube channel Ctrl Shift Fake has used A.I. to realistically superimpose the features of actors Al Pacino and Schwarzenegger onto Hader’s face as the “Saturday Night Live” star does impressions during interviews. The results have gone viral, with close to 5 million and 9 million views apiece, as commenters share their awe, confusion and distrust of the imagery.
As for Hader himself? He’s afraid to look.
“I’ve heard about them but I haven’t watched,” Hader told USA TODAY at the premiere of his new film “It: Chapter Two.” “It’s a weird technology, man. It sounds kind of like a bad technology (that could) fall into the wrong hands.”
Similar software has been used to create pornographic content with stars such as Scarlett Johansson (who has spoken out about the futility of fighting deepfakes) and to make House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sound as though she’s slurring her words.
But some stars have been able to laugh about deepfakes. Earlier this year,Steve Buscemi joked on “The Late Show” that he’s “never looked better” than in a deepfake that merges his head with Jennifer Lawrence’s body. Comedian Chris D’Elia has shared several deepfakes featuring his face, including a particularly ironic one where it looks as if he’s Nicolas Cage’s character in “Face/Off.” Sylvester Stallone also posted a deepfake of his recognizable eyes, nose and mouth on the Terminator’s body. “This is what a terminator would look like if he was built from spaghetti and pizza!” the “Rocky” star quipped.
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The latter clip is another one of the Hollywood-themed projects on Ctrl Shift Fake’s page, which also includes videos where Elon Musk is recast as the lead of “A Space X Odyssey” and Tom Cruise becomes the star of “American Psycho,” with voiceover help from impressionists Evan Ferrante and Rupert Degas.
Though a number of commenters who’ve watched the videos starring Hader are convinced the actor has superhuman power to change his facial features, the video does say up front that it’s unreal: The word “DeepFake” is in the headlines and the descriptions have disclaimers with links to the A.I. software used.
But the video looks so real, because the transitions from Hader’s face to Schwarzenegger’s and Pacino’s are subtle. The morphing takes place partly while Hader’s hand is covering his face. It all happens so fast, it’s almost impossible to spot the transition, even when you slow down the video and look for it.
But Hader isn’t jumping at the chance to see what producers are able to do with his impressions and high-tech software. “There’s other things I wish they were putting that (effort) into,” he says.
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