Is the technology there yet to completely create a computer-generated actor in a film?
Not quite - it's still much easier to computer-enhance than to actively create someone. We can fool the eye for seconds, maybe minutes, but it's still easier to fool the eye and harder to fool the heart.
In "Gattaca", you concentrated on human perfection. In "S1m0ne" you're looking at creating perfection...
All of us seek perfection. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, I'm just holding up a mirror to what is around today. Artificial actors are made more human, human actors are made to look artificial. We manipulate real actors, stretch them to make them more slender, fix their complexion, and alter faces to accommodate stuntmen. When Oliver Reed died before the end of "Gladiator", they simply finished it with a digitised Oliver Reed, so anything's possible, and "S1m0ne" is the logical extension of that.
Were you nervous about working with a legend like Al Pacino?
The great thing about Al Pacino is that he doesn't act like he's Al Pacino - he quickly goes from being this icon standing in front of you to being a collaborator. Instead of seeing him as Al Pacino, you quickly learn just to see him as Al.
The film seems to come from from a past time. Is that fair?
Al Pacino's character yearns for a more glamourous Hollywood era. Even though he's using the most modern technology, he's doing something that is old-fashioned, because digital actors are like a contract player in the old Hollywood system, both will do whatever you want - Simone will do as much publicity as you want, date who you want, wear what you want, unlike the real actor of course!
Is "S1m0ne" a form of revenge on the industry in which you work?
I wanted Pacino because I thought it would be both subversive and funnier if one of the world's most respected actors is saying, "Who needs actors?" There's a dig at pretentious directors in the film. Taransky [Al Pacino's character], for example, needs Simone to get his films made. As for it being a comment on the bad behaviour of A-list actors, my films don't cost enough for me to attract A-list stars in the first place, so I've never seen it first-hand. I just hear the horror stories!
