'Curse of Frankenstein' Star Peter Cushing Reanimated via AI for Documentary

“Curse of Frankenstein” star Peter Cushing is the latest famous face to be posthumously resurrected using artificial intelligence. The film icon is set to appear in a “special homage” as part of Sky Arts documentary “Hammer: Heroes, Legends and Monsters,” airing this Halloween.

Produced by Deep Fusion Films, the documentary explores the history and legacy of Hammer Films, which made an icon of Cushing and co-star Christopher Lee in horror films including “Curse of Frankenstein,” “The Mummy,” and “Horror of Dracula.”

The documentary concludes with a “powerful and poignant reveal of Hammer royalty,” according to a press release shared with Decrypt, featuring an AI rendition of Cushing.

“I don’t think it’s deepfaking in that traditional sense,” the documentary’s Producer/Director Ben Field told Decrypt.

He explained that the AI rendition used audio clips from Cushing’s performance in “Curse of Frankenstein,” together with stills of the actor, to produce a sequence “driven by a human performance.”

He added that the documentary makers sought permission from Cushing’s estate for the AI performance. “We don’t have a disclaimer saying that this isn’t real,” he added, “but quite clearly when you watch the documentary in context, you know that what is being presented is not Peter Cushing.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time that Cushing’s likeness has been revived for the screen. In the 2016 “Star Wars” film “Rogue One,” the actor’s character of Grand Moff Tarkin was resurrected, though on that occasion artificial intelligence wasn’t used. Instead, a "lifecast" made of Cushing for the film “Top Secret!” was scanned and overlaid on the performance of actor Guy Henry.

“I'll give you life again”

Cushing isn’t the only famous face that Deep Fusion has brought back with the help of AI. Last year, the company produced “A Life Uncharted,” featuring a deepfake recreation of “Thunderbirds” creator Gerry Anderson to accompany original archive audio recordings of his voice.

Earlier this week, the company announced the launch of a new podcast series, “Virtually Parkinson,” featuring an AI replica of British broadcasting icon Sir Michael Parkinson. The AI “Parkinson” draws on over 2,000 hours of the broadcaster’s archive interviews, enabling guests to converse in an “authentic manner,” the show’s makers said.

Field, who has contributed to “most of the UK policy on how AI can be legally integrated and responsibly integrated into TV and film,” said that the podcast doesn’t attempt to conceal the use of AI.

Michael Parkinson. Image: Shutterstock

“At no point are we saying that this is Michael Parkinson,” he said. “The primary objective of it was to start to explore the relationship between AI and humans: What is it like to be interviewed by an AI? Do you give more away? Do you give less away? How do you respond? How does the AI change the role of the interviewer?”

Parkinson, he said, is “the perfect foil to what we think of AI, which is cold and pretty heartless,” with a voice that “automatically puts people at ease.”

But, he added, the AI “Parkinson” has limitations. Where a human interviewer would have “lines of questioning,” the AI “just explores what the individual says; he listens intently and then asks questions based on your answers.” The interactions, he said, “become almost like a type of therapy”—akin to the first-ever chatbot, Eliza.

Deep Fusion’s AI recreations of Parkinson, Anderson and Cushing have been undertaken with the involvement of their respective estates, Field told Decrypt. “I don’t think this is a new area,” he said, pointing to the “commercial exploitation” of deceased stars like Elvis Presley by their estates.

“This idea that you can’t do it, or that it shouldn’t be done, I think is creatively restrictive,” he added. “I don’t really see that anybody outside of the immediate family of those that you’re working with is in a position to say whether you should be allowed to do something or not.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward