The technology of deep fakes is beginning to make an impact in the news and popular culture – a segment on deep fakes just popped up on the noon TV news as I was typing this. It's a disturbing and possibly dangerous technology, but it can be a boon for producers of SF television shows and movies.
For All Mankind is an Apple TV+ show set in an alternate history in which the Soviet Union beats the United States to the moon. It's excellent; I liked the first season a lot and the second season is even better. The show makes extensive use of deep fake technology, as this article discusses in detail.
Most of these scenes are subtle, but the second season includes at least two attention-getting deepfake-assisted set pieces. In the Season 2 premiere, astronaut Tracy Stevens (played by Sarah Jones) guests on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and announces that she’s gotten remarried (much to the dismay of her blindsided ex-husband, Gordo, who’s watching at home). Later in the season, Tracy appears on the talk show remotely, but in this scene, she’s on set, sitting right next to Johnny. “We created a part of the Johnny Carson set, had to have her sit exactly where a guest would sit there, and then had to merge the two, the reality and the tape from back in the day, together,” says Nedivi.
The producers got permission to use footage from The Tonight Show, and a staffer was assigned to binge old episodes in search of one where Johnny made physical contact with a guest in a way that For All Mankind could use. (“Lucky guy,” Wolpert says of the PA who drew the assignment.) The producers struck gold with a 1983 appearance by an 18-year-old Diane Lane, in which Johnny reaches out to examine the recent high school graduate’s class ring. In the sci-fi show, he makes the same motion to scrutinize Tracy’s wedding ring.
“The hand that is taking Sarah Jones’s hand in that shot is actually an actor’s hand, and then above the arm is Johnny,” Wolpert says. “That’s one of the visual effects shots I’m most proud of, because it looks seamless to me.”
We've come a long way since Forrest Gump.
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