How The Rock’s Role In The Live-Action Moana Remake Was Reportedly Going To Involve A.I. Before Plans Were Scrapped

A.I. is now a major topic of conversation in every major industry, it seems, and Hollywood is certainly no different. It’s being adopted to varying degrees to handle a variety of responsibilities, but one place we apparently won’t see it is in the upcoming live-action Moana remake. At least, not as it pertains to Dwayne Johnson’s performance as Maui.

A new piece in the Wall Street Journal takes a look at how the House of Mouse is walking something of a tightrope when it comes to using A.I. Disney, along with Universal, have filed a major lawsuit for copyright infringement against one A.I. company, but has also been exploring how it might be possible to use A.I. technology in movie production, as it nearly did just that.

The Live-Action Moana Could Have Included An A.I. Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson is set to reprise his role from the original Moana and play Maui in next year's live-action remake. According to the journal, Disney spent some amount of time working on an idea that would have seen The Rock’s stand-in, Johnson’s cousin Tanoai Reed, have A.I. deepfake technology applied to his performance to make him look like Dwayne Johnson, allowing The Rock to be seen in two places at once.

According to the report, Disney has since moved away from this plan, and the A.I. Maui won’t be seen the live-action Moana. However, the reason for this seems to have less to do with the ability to make the technology work, and more to do with logistical details and legal complications regarding deployment and security concerns.

It’s also said that there was a worry that if A.I. generated part of the film, Disney might not be able to claim complete ownership of the movie. It’s perhaps an understandable reason to walk away considering copyright is a major issue in Disney’s other major A.I. endeavor.

Disney Is Involved In A Major AI Lawsuit

In June, Disney and Universal filed suit together against A.I. company Midjourney for alleged copying of copyrighted material. Clearly, while the company sees AI has a potential tool that it can use, the possibility for other to use it against them is also being considered.

While A.I. wasn’t used in the case of Moana, it seems quite likely it will be used by Disney in the future. A new Netflix series recently used A.I. in a visual effect. James Cameron, the creator of The Terminator, has recently suggested A.I. might be necessary as a way to bring down the costs of big budget films.

Red tape may have ultimately stopped an A.I. Maui from appearing in Moana, but if the questions and problems that companies like Disney have today can be addressed, it seems all but certain that major studios will use A.I. We just don't know when or how quite yet.