Actor Gal Gadot has defended her decision to work on a Bitcoin thriller produced with artificial intelligence tools, saying creators must adapt to the technology or risk irrelevance.
"The train has left the station. You're going to work with it or be out of the game completely," Gadot said in an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, according to reporting by Variety. "I am trying to make the best of it and protect what I can protect."
Contract Negotiations and AI Protections
Gadot's legal team spent six months negotiating her contract for "Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi," the longest contract she has ever worked on. The negotiations focused on protecting her performance from AI involvement. The actor emphasized that AI was used only for sets and lighting, not for her performance. "I did not want AI to have anything to do with my performance," she said.
Gadot's lawyers' approach to protecting actors from AI caught the attention of the Screen Actors Guild. SAG reportedly contacted Gadot's legal team to seek guidance on updating its own contracts to protect other actors.
Production Approach and Cost
"Bitcoin: Killing Satoshi" is a $70 million thriller directed by Doug Liman, known for "The Bourne Identity." The film focuses on the hunt for Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator and stars Casey Affleck, Pete Davidson, and Isla Fisher.
Rather than filming on location across roughly 200 settings, the cast performed inside a former car showroom lined with gray screen, nicknamed the gray box. All sets and lighting were generated after filming. Producer Ryan Kavanaugh stated that conventional production would have cost over $300 million, suggesting savings of more than $200 million.
Gadot compared the shooting experience to theater work, noting the warehouse contained little beyond the actors. Without lighting setups requiring setup time, shooting sessions lasted up to 10 hours.
