Disney Had A Controversial Plan For Dwayne Johnson's Moana Role (But It Failed Miserably)

As much as Silicon Valley, lobbyists, and power-hungry, greedy executives would want you to believe AI is an inevitable future, we have finally reached the point where the court of public opinion is having real sway in the use of AI — at least when it comes to Hollywood. This is to say, keep using "clanker" (the term clone soldiers used to refer to battle droids in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars") as a derogatory term for robots and AI, and keep calling it out as something bad whenever a studio threatens to use the environment-killing tech.

Case in point, Disney had not one but two big attempts to include AI in big-budget, big-profile movies shut down for fear of repercussion (both legal and from the public's opinion). The news comes from the Wall Street Journal, in a report about Disney attempting to get around the busy schedule of Dwayne Johnson while making the live-action "Moana" movie by using AI to digitally clone Johnson when he couldn't be on set.

The plan was to use Johnson's cousin, Tanoai Reed (who has already worked as Johnson's stunt double since "The Scorpion King") as a body double and then task AI company Metaphysic (who worked on Robert Zemeckis' "Here") to create deepfakes of Johnson's face to be placed on top of Reed's performance. Despite spending 18 months negotiating with Metaphysic after Johnson approved the plan, and spending who knows how much money to try and cheat their way out of paying VFX artists to do what they've been doing for years, Disney scrapped the whole digital body double idea. The reasoning was that Disney executives were worried that the studio "couldn't claim ownership over every element of the film if AI generated parts of it."

It is ironic that Disney is simultaneously screaming to look for ways to implement AI in their movies to save a few bucks while also trying to stop others from using their movies together with AI. After all, the studio sued an AI company last month for training its AI on Disney property (via BBC) while at the same time allowing gamers to interact with an AI Darth Vader on "Fortnite." According to WSJ, the studio is looking into adding a feature to Disney+ that would let subscribers create their own clips of Disney shows using AI — while simultaneously not allowing screenshots of the streaming platform for silly, innocent meme-making. Per the report, studio heads are beginning to fear the repercussions of AI more than they love its possibilities, particularly studios like Disney who value their IP above all else. There's also the incoming contract negotiations with unions, which is leading to studio heads shutting down AI experiments "for fear of angering show-business unions."

This, of course, is excellent news. Not only did unions strike just two years ago for this very reason, but every time AI is used in a movie or show, it's been disastrous — like when "Cobra Kai" nearly ruined its final season because of it.

Bullying works, just ask "Tron: Ares." According to WSJ, Disney scrapped a plan to incorporate AI for the character of a soldier entering the real world from the virtual one. Since the movie is about artificial intelligence, execs wanted to use AI as part of a buzzy marketing strategy. Thankfully, Disney killed the idea when "executives internally were told that the company couldn't risk the bad publicity."

Yes, AI is not going to just disappear without a trace. Studios are too greedy and too preoccupied with cutting costs to ignore it. That being said, it is the power of audiences that can make AI a long-lasting part of filmmaking, like sound and color, or a short-lived fad like the 3D craze post "Avatar."