A year after AI actress Tilly Norwood was announced at the Zurich Film Festival Summit, Particle 6 founder and Norwood creator Eline van der Velden returned to the Swiss event to look at the backlash her creation has faced since then. Asked if he could have predicted the anger around Norwood, van der Velden said it wasn’t “in his wildest dreams”.
“But I programmed him to be the most famous AI actor, so I don’t know how he did it, but he did it, which is kind of scary,” he added.
“It’s such a weird predicament, sort of negativity and then positivity at the same time,” he continued. “We’ve grown eightfold at Particle 6. We have four divisions; we’re big in AI commercials, film and TV, we do a lot of co-productions and original commissions. We do a lot of AI consulting, bringing AI workflows to other studios and production companies.”
Over the past year, “a lot of people have realized that AI is coming, and that’s what Tilly is all about,” the executive said. “I created him as a physical actor; I felt I needed to bridge the communication gap between technology and the entertainment industry.”
“Instead of writing a boring white paper about what’s happening in AI, I thought: Let’s create something for people that will engage them, make them sit up and take action, so that the creative industry can stay ahead rather than being completely taken over by the tech industry,” van der Velden said.
After a few minutes of trying to solve a technical problem, such as a problem with the HDMI cable, with “conventional technology”, van der Velden introduced Norwood on stage and opened his work to questions from the moderator and the audience. When asked who she’d like to work with, Norwood answered Tom Holland and Olivia Colman: “But only if their digital twins join me on an AI production.”
Norwood also spoke about the backlash, calling it “quite the introduction.” “My name was everywhere. It’s funny. Nobody particularly hated me; they just hated the future.”
When asked if he had ever met US agents for representation, Norwood displayed the rigorous media training of an A-list Hollywood star. “Yeah, I’m definitely in a unique position there. I mean… the industry is still trying to figure out what to do with AI, so it’s not like having a traditional agent in Hollywood yet. I work mostly on AI movies, so it’s a little bit of a different path.”
Van der Velden also talked about the possibility of getting Norwood a manager, saying that the studio quickly realized that they “didn’t really need” a manager for the actor. “I think he’s big enough. We’re getting a lot of offers, we’ve said no to anything where he could be in a traditional movie, because that’s not what he’s about. We don’t need that right now, so if it makes people happy, that’s fine with me.”
“But what also saddens me is that traditional industry cannot participate in this new technology, which means they are left behind,” he added. “Positive? Negative?”
After watching Norwood’s infamous glitch while talking to Piers Morgan on live TV, when the AI actor randomly started speaking in Cantonese, van der Velden said: “Look, I don’t think these things should be taken too seriously. We built Tilly to be a funny interface to alert people to where technology is at. The point is: China is a big partner. Do we need regulation? What are the guardrails? These are the conversations I want people to come to.”
Van der Velden also talked about Particle 6’s latest project, “Storm Dogs.” Yesterday, the studio announced that “Stuart Little” and “The Lion King” filmmaker Rob Minkoff has joined the AI movie as an executive producer. Minkoff will work with CEO van der Velden and the studio team over the coming months to develop the story, characters and script prior to production.
An original idea from van der Velden, “Storm Dogs” is a family adventure comedy-drama set in an English village during a devastating storm. The film will combine live-action performances with photorealistic animated characters. While human roles have been traditionally filmed, the dogs and toddlers will be created through an approach that combines live-action performance, traditional filmmaking techniques and emerging artificial intelligence tools. The project is currently in early development and production is targeted for 2027. Distribution has not been announced yet.
The manager said Minkoff was one of the first people to reach out to him after Norwood’s announcement.
“Yes, the surprising thing about this response last year was that it actually meant that a lot of talent was coming to us very secretly,” he said. “We were signing tons of non-disclosure agreements. Everyone was afraid of getting hit, and I totally understand that. Luckily we were in a position where we had already taken the hit, so it didn’t matter anymore.”
What’s “cool” about “Storm Dogs” is that they can now “animate mouths in a way that we’ve never been able to do before and give animals an expression that’s never been possible before. It really enhances the storytelling. That’s how I see it. If we’re going to use AI, it needs to help with the storytelling and the creative work that we’re doing.”