Bruce Willis signs away his image

The Future. Bruce Willis has become the first major Hollywood actor to sell his “likeness” to an AI firm, giving the company the ability to plug Willis into whatever project they choose. While Willis’ ailing health may have played a big role in the deal, it’s likely to open the floodgates for several aging actors to cash in on their persona when they’re finally ready to retire.

Which Willis?

Collider reports that Bruce Willis will continue acting even after his recent retirement, thanks to a new deal with US AI-firm Deepcake.

• Willis sold the firm the right for them to make a “digital twin” of him using a mix of AI and machine learning.

• That gives Deepcake the ability to use his “likeness” onscreen in any future projects — either through crafting a the right for them to make a “digital twin” of the actor or superimposing his face on another performer.

The deal follows on the heels of Willis’ commercial for Russian phone service, MegaFon, last year… without ever having to step on set. The commercial did a pretty great job of recreating Willis, and the experience reportedly went well enough for the actor to trust Deepcake with his image.

Bruce’s final act

More importantly, Willis may see the deal as a way for his acting legacy to carry on after he announced he was stepping away from acting due to his aphasia diagnosis — a disease that “causes issues with reading, listening, and speaking.”

For years, Willis was pumping out dozens of lower-budget action and crime pics (where he was paid a handsome fee for only a few days of work) until he got too sick to work physically.

But now, it seems as if Willis will be able to work digitally, forever.