Digital Clones – Mary Sean Young

Actors are already selling digital clones of themselves. Digital clones could contribute to one of the largest Hollywood labor strikes in decades. Leaders of SAG-AFTRA, the primary union representing actors and other performers, asked its 160,000 members to vote on whether they are authorized to strike if studios and streaming companies waver on their contract demands.

Among other nonnegotiables, the union is determined to make it clear how much performers should get paid and when they must be consulted for studios to use A.I.–generated simulations of their voice or likeness. The Writers Guild of America is already on strike (and citing its own A.I.–replacement fears). If the actors join the writers, it would be the first time in more than 60 years that the two unions have simultaneously halted work.

When Sean Young was asked if Rachael’s 30-second hologram cameo in “Blade Runner 2049” was “a final insult,” Young answered, “Wasn’t that so full of shit?” The plot of “Blade Runner 2049” finds Rachael dead and many of the characters searching for the daughter she had with Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). Young’s physical likeness was recreated using VFX in a scene where Rachael appears to Deckard as a ploy created by the villainous Niander Wallace (Jared Leto).

Bruce Willis may still appear on the big screen even after his retirement. Deepcake, an artificial-intelligence-powered content optimization platform, has created a digital doppelganger for the 67-year-old actor who was diagnosed with aphasia — a brain disorder that affects his ability to communicate — last year, according to the Daily Mail.

Devin Finley disapproved of A.I.–generated avatars eventually taking jobs from people. Then again, the situation enabled the impossible. “You can be in two places at one time,” he said, and the new income stream meant that “as you get older or you’re on vacation, your avatar is still virtually making money for you,” possibly speaking a language he has never learned, without ever aging beyond 36.

Mary Sean Young began her film career in Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980), followed by a role in the film Stripes (1981). She then played the female lead, Rachael, alongside Harrison Ford in the classic science fiction film Blade Runner (1982). On television, Young played the female lead opposite Lenny Von Dohlen in Under the Biltmore Clock (1986), based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's story Myra Meets His Family. The following year, she had a small role in the film Wall Street (1987) as the wife of Michael Douglas's character, Gordon Gekko. Her role was originally intended to be larger, but was significantly reduced due to clashes with Oliver Stone.

She has an intensive dance background and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, which served her during her critically acclaimed performance in “STARDUST” with Toni Tenille and Hinton Battle, a musical review of songwriter Mitchell Parish. She performed with Gregory Hines at a special benefit for the American Tap Dance Orchestra where she sits on the Board at their New York City headquarters.