ICONicolas Cage is worried that Hollywood will “steal” his face and body once he’s dead.
The Face/Off star admitted as much in an interview with The New Yorker published on Monday and, while he’s primarily concerned about Hollywood’s burgeoning use of artificial intelligence, Nicolas has also been used for viral internet memes since 2009 — and he still isn’t used to it.
The topic came up mid-interview when the Longlegs star noted he has to get a “scan” or two done.
“Well, they have to put me in a computer and match my eye colour and change — I don’t know,” he told the outlet. “They’re just going to steal my body and do whatever they want with it via digital A.I.”
“God, I hope not A.I.,” he continued. “I’m terrified of that. I’ve been very vocal about it.”
Nicolas has starred in 120 films and has portrayed virtually every archetype there is, from reluctant hero and heartthrob to villainous vampire. The actor, who’s played a resourceful thief — and has seen his face stolen on-screen before — is now worried about life imitating art.
“And it makes me wonder, you know, where will the truth of the artists end up?” Cage said Monday. “Is it going to be replaced? Is it going to be transmogrified? Where’s the heartbeat going to be? I mean, what are you going to do with my body and my face when I’m dead?”
“I don’t want you to do anything with it!” the actor continued.
Nicolas isn’t the only star alarmed by the artificial use of his likeness, which became a core subject of last year’s SAG-AFTRA negotiations with major film studios. Samuel L. Jackson previously urged actors to reject contracts containing the words “in perpetuity”.
The Oscar winner is already familiar with his face being warped and wielded, however, as it’s been a template for viral memes for 15 years now.
A montage of his most manic scenes has drawn over a million views, meanwhile, and a forum on Reddit created in his honour boasts 153,000 users.
The actor said that people “become fascinated with movie stars” but essentially meme them to death “so fast” that it’s “almost become a joke” — only to “dispose of them and go to the next guy.” Nicolas himself is still navigating just how best “to surf that” wave.
“I used to be in control of that. I don’t think I’m in control of that anymore,” he told The New Yorker, adding: “When I signed up to be a film actor, we didn’t have the Internet. We didn’t have cell phones with cameras. I didn’t know this was going to happen to me.”