“Speechless”: Jackie Chan uses artificial intelligence to de-age in a new film, confounding internet users.
When Jackie Chan showed up at an event in China in March with a beard and grey hair, he grabbed headlines for seeming sallow and aged.
The 70-year-old recently made headlines once more with the release of his new Chinese film A Legend because he appeared abnormally young in it thanks to artificial intelligence.
Jackie plays Professor Chen, an archaeologist who is taken to the past and transforms into a young general after discovering the tomb of Princess Mengyun (Gulnezer Bextiyar), who resembles the woman in his nightmares. The movie is supposedly related to his 2010 film The Myth.
Images of a young Jackie fighting the enemy while wearing armor have been making the rounds on Weibo.
Jackie Chan in his latest film, A Legend, all armored up. IMAGE: Weibo
He appears in additional sequences alongside 32-year-old Gulnezer, who purportedly portrays the general’s romantic interest.
According to reports, Gulnezer Bextiyar and Jackie Chan have romantic interests in A Legend. IMAGE: Weibo
The de-aging of Jackie did not sit well with viewers, as those who saw the film complained about how preoccupied it made them feel.
An internet user said, “What the hell is this? I became entirely disinterested in the film because of AI Jackie Chan.”
Some others even said that this was the “worst movie of the year” in their comments.
“AI drastically alters Jackie Chan’s face. I am truly at a loss for words,” they wrote.
They believed that he is unwilling to acknowledge his advanced age.
“Jackie Chan is going to retire, but why can’t he think rationally?” wrote one of them. Is he resisting accepting his advanced age or is he attempting to recollect about his childhood?”
Another netizen believed that he was taking remarks about AI replacing actors in the future too seriously: Some made jokes about AI being used to make movies in the future. Jackie seemed to be taking this seriously.”
Others, despite the criticism, asserted that Jaycee, Jackie’s son, could have portrayed the general in the film had he not run afoul of the law (he was detained in 2014 for marijuana possession and distribution in Beijing).
“If his son acted in his movie, it would have been exciting just thinking about it,” they said.
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