Lionsgate’s upcoming Fall tones down cursing with deepfake tech

The Future. The filmmakers behind Lionsgate’s new movie, Fall, turned to AI to change its many uses of the F-word after the studio demanded it needed to get a PG-13 rating. If the use of the tech turns out to be imperceptible to audiences, deepfaking voices may also become the future of creating seamless dubs of foreign-language films.

F#&k! Fork!
Variety reports that the filmmakers behind Fall, which follows “two women who climb a 2,000-foot-tall radio tower and become trapped at the top after the ladder breaks,” went to some interesting lengths to cut out F-words.

• Fall’s director, Scott Mann, is also the co-CEO of AI company Flawless, which so happens to focus on film and TV.
• He used the company’s tech to replace over 30 uses of the F-word with alts like “freaking.” (PG-13 films can typically only have one use of the F-word.)

With just a $3 million budget, Mann said that returning for reshoots would’ve taken several weeks of work (and a lot more money). But the “neural reshoots” using Flawless’ tech took only two weeks while the film was still in post-production.

Whose voice is it anyway?
Apparently, the tech is really good. Fall actress Grace Caroline Currey couldn’t even recognize what was changed in her performance, saying, “as far as I know, every movement my mouth made in that movie, my mouth made.”

This isn’t the first time deepfake tech has been used to alter a voice or bring it back to life. Disney’s The Book of Boba Fett used similar tech made by ILM to make Mark Hamill’s voice seem younger for its digital recreation of Luke Skywalker. Also, Anthony Bourdain’s voice was controversially brought to life for Morgan Neville’s documentary, Roadrunner.