Watch: ‘Putin’ Movie Uses AI to Put Russian Leader’s Face on Actor’s Body

From the depths of your nightmares comes a movie no one asked for.

A new movie dramatizing the life of Russian leader Vladimir Putin uses artificial intelligence technology to superimpose Putin’s face on an actor’s body — prompting its director to call it the “first deepfake” feature film.

Putin is reportedly being shopped around for distributors at the Cannes Film Festival, which is currently underway in France. The English-language movie comes from the Polish director known as “Besaleel” whose previous titles were ultra-violent gangster movies that were reportedly popular with Polish moviegoers.

The new movie appears to continue the director’s taste for over-the-top violence.

Watch below:

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Besaleel said he shot scenes of the Russian leader using a Polish actor with a similar build and used AI technology to “overlay Putin’s face on the actor, creating a realistic effect in the highest resolution.”

The movie reportedly re-creates several real-life events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

AI is quickly becoming ubiquitous in the entertainment industry, with studios scrambling to find ways to incorporate it in movie and TV productions.

In Hollywood, actors are seeking to impose limits on artificial intelligence technology — particularly when it comes to their digital likenesses — while studios are pushing back, arguing that such limits would violate First Amendment rights.

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