Doug Liman's Bitcoin Film Uses AI Stage

Doug Liman's Killing Satoshi, starring Pete Davidson and Casey Affleck, will shoot entirely on a markerless performative capture stage in the UK with no real locations, according to a UK casting notice reported by Variety.

• All backgrounds and scenery will be AI-generated. The casting notice states producers reserve the right to "change, add to, take from, translate, reformat or reprocess" performances using generative AI, including adjustments to lip, facial, and body movements.

• No AI-generated actors. Producer Ryan Kavanaugh told Variety: "We will not have any AI-generated actors that do not exist. AI is a tool we're using to make the filmmaking process more efficient while maintaining all department heads' jobs, all actor jobs." A reference to AI actors in the casting notice was included in error, according to a production source.

• Union implications are significant. The production's approach sits at the center of SAG-AFTRA's ongoing negotiations with studios over synthetic performances, name/image/likeness protections, and consent frameworks.

Nick Schenk (Gran Torino) wrote the screenplay. The film follows the pursuit of Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Production begins late February.

Worth watching: This is one of the first narrative features from a major Hollywood director to fully commit to AI-generated environments and AI-assisted performance adjustments from the start. The consent framework baked into the casting notice and the union response will set precedent for how productions handle synthetic performances going forward.