Darth Vader’s voice in Obi-Wan Kenobi was entirely AI-generated
Although James Earl Jones "guided" the performance of his iconic character, the actual lines were all generated by an AI firm in Ukraine
Aux News Darth Vader
James Earl Jones has apparently given his permission for the voice of his iconic villain Darth Vader to become an AI-generated effect. Has already done so, in fact, for his recent “appearance” in Star Wars Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi: Although Lucasfilm was quick to note that Jones “guided” the generation of Vader’s lines in the show, the actual voice for the character was generated by an AI firm called Respeecher in Ukraine.
This is per Vanity Fair, which reported, among other things, about how Respeecher’s employees apparently worked through the early days of the Russian invasion of their country to finish the effects for the show. (Skywalker Sound’s Matthew Wood says he tried to pull back on requests for tweaks to the lines as the situation in the country escalated, “But the Respeecher team’s attitude, he says, was: ‘Let’s work, let’s work in the face of this adversity, let’s persevere.’”)
Jones previously played Vader for exactly one line in J.J. Abrams’ The Rise Of Skywalker; before that, he’d returned to the character in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the animated TV series Star Wars: Rebels, and the final moments of Revenge Of The Sith. At 91 years old, though, Wood says Jones “had mentioned he was looking into winding down this particular character,” and so the studio started looking into AI as a solution. Wood says Jones was still involved in the project, acting as “a benevolent godfather” who gave guidance on how the character should sound. When presented with the finished result, Jones signed off on it; his family, according to the VF article, “told Wood how pleased they were with the result of all the work.”
AI voice generation has become more common in recent years; the creators of the Anthony Bourdain documentary Roadrunner were criticized last year for using an AI-generated version of the beloved food personality’s voice to read letters in their doc. And Star Wars has, of course, not been shy about using technology to create new performances from classic stars in recent years. Rogue One featured a CGI Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin, while a recent episode of The Book Of Boba Fett featured a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill. Now the question stands: How much more of Vader’s iconic voice will we be hearing in the years ahead, now completely generated by AI?
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I feel like this is a completely different kettle of fish when it’s happening with the still-living actor’s blessing.
I feel the same with the digital Luke. They wouldn’t be doing the deep fakes with the face or voice unless they had Mark Hamill’s approval.
Digital Luke sucks, though.
It’s still fuckin’ weird though. I did not care for The Mandalorian’s digital Luke, Mark Hamill’s involvement be damned. Whenever this subject would come up, my conservative father used to point out how “they can make it look like someone said or did something they didn’t say or do,” which was usually his conspiracy-theory-loving ass implying that The Liberals were going to use advanced tech to come after Trump with doctored video or audio recordings. But the thing is, the tech isn’t there yet. It never looks quite right, it never sounds quite right. The AI Vader was close enough to fool the average listener, but I could still tell something was off, even if I didn’t immediately go to, “That’s a computer.”AI-generated voices and CGI bodies lack the warmth and nuance of authentic human performances. The voices lack a certain something, and the bodies and faces move unnaturally. Maybe the tech will get there one day, but I doubt it. And honestly, I hope it never does. Because that would be weird and creepy.
“his conspiracy-theory-loving ass implying that The Liberals were going to use advanced tech to come after Trump with doctored video or audio recordings.”
Which I find funny because a) you don’t need to doctor video and audio to find Trump saying stupid incriminating bullshit, and b) most of the time it’s the conservatives that eat up any partisan drivel put in front of them anyways (give or take a Russia-gate)
AI-generated voices and CGI bodies lack the warmth and nuance of authentic human performances.Maybe in the case of The Mandalorian’s deep-faked Luke Skywalker, but I thought Darth Vader sounded badass on Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Exactly. Vader’s voice was noticeably different in Rogue One/Rise of Skywalker. How could it not, the man was in his late 80s by that point. But I felt that in Obi-Wan his “voice” was the closest Vader has sounded like Vader since Return of the Jedi.But then again Vader’s voice has never been that consistent. It changes quite a bit between episodes IV – VI.
But then again Vader’s voice has never been that consistent. It changes quite a bit between episodes IV – VI.Indeed.
It’s mildly creepy to imagine that as part of a contract now.
Lucasfilm was quick to note that Jones “guided” the generation of Vader’s lines in the show, the actual voice for the character was generated by an AI firm called Respeecher in Ukraine.I think we’ve found the real reason for Putin’s war. He wants to get his hands on this technology so he can rule Russia from beyond the grave by creating a virtual Putin who can live forever.
The first time I heard of this technology was when a company offered to create an artificial voice for Roger Ebert after he lost the ability to speak due to cancer surgery. The process was made easier by the numerous high-quality recordings he made as audio commentaries for various movies.
If you are confused, yes, the first couple of times he is using the synthesizer it is using the default “Stephen Hawking” style voice, but later on he is using the voice that actually sounds pretty much like his real voice.
It’s incredible how quickly technology has progressed in just this short time.
Yeah, the Respeecher guys have given a lot of interviews and, like any AI tech, the more in recordings it has to learn from the better it will be. They’re quick to point out though, that the tough part is making it seem natural in inflection and emotion. It’s not too hard to have the AI say a line in someone’s voice but not having it be a flat monotone and fitting it into a conversation is the key. They were much happier about the results of Hamill’s voice in Boba Fett than they were in Mandalorian, for instance.
I thought it was Jones sweetened by some studio magic because there’s some genuine emotional inflection in there. “I am what you made me.” And the bit when he Force chokes Reva. “You were warned what defeat would bring!” Impressive. Most Impressive. https://youtu.be/GsIr2Ixfv-g
Am I the only one getting freaked out for a split second whenever a picture of James Earl Jones appears here , may he live another 30 or 40 years!
Same.That aside, I do like the pictures of Jones standing with Vader.
“This is the guy! This is that Vader I’ve been telling you about!”
He’s more machine than man, twisted and evil.
Can Respeecher’s AI mimic Vladimir Putin announcing he likes it when little boys tie him up and spank him?
Liberals refrain from using harmful homophobic tropes when insulting Putin and Trump challenge (impossible)
I thought this was pretty clear at the time, Vader’s voice in Kenobi sounded much closer to the original trilogy compared to more recent appearances like Rogue One and Rebels.
“(Skywalker Sound’s Matthew Wood says he tried to pull back on requests for tweaks to the lines as the situation in the country escalated, “But the Respeecher team’s attitude, he says, was: ‘Let’s work, let’s work in the face of this adversity, let’s persevere.’”)“There’s no way this isn’t total bullshit invented to justify Disney’s general indifference to the difficulties the invasion might impose on getting the job done.
How much more of Vader’s iconic voice will we be hearing in the years ahead, now completely generated by AI?To be fair, we haven’t heard Jones’ voice in most of the Star Wars videogames. Long before AI, human voice actors have gotten quite good at imitating it.
They’re pretty close to being able to make new movies set in between OT episodes, starring entirely digital recreations of the original cast. At least, it seems like Disney has been investing in technology for the last decade or so specifically to realize their dream of infinite content from finite IP.
I can’t wait for a movie about the Millennium Falcon’s trip from Tatooine to Alderaan, starring realistic CGI models of the characters (even though the Chewbacca suit is still in good shape). Turns out Garindan stowed away on the ship, and they had 150 minutes’ worth of action on that 100 minutes flight… which they all forgot about.
Damn, Garindan! What a reference!
I did 4K77 recently, honestly the first time since VHS I think, and I was struck by what a deliberate cop-out Garindan is. I mean I have been struck by quite a lot of rather baffling choices by Mr Lucas over the years, but I’d recently read Paul Hirsch’s book which provided further evidence, if any were still necessary, that Star Wars was essentially assembled from loads and loads of half-cocked ideas, and that any claim that George Lucas is a visionary is laughable.
Garindan is not discussed specifically in the book, but it’s quite clear that they are filmed as though their identity will be revealed later, or at least that they will return. I’m not sure if there was a specific, developed plan at any stage to reveal them as a character known to us or something, but given the trouble that multiple editors had in getting the film to work, there’s quite a pronounced sense that these shots are being used differently from their intended purpose. The editors aim to establish Garindan as a discrete character, and they basically don’t seem to resolve the problem that every shot of him is a “who is this?” shot.It’s just another one of those wacky things about OG Star Wars where the fact that Lucas doesn’t have a god-damn clue what he’s doing ends up giving the film some weird verisimilitude.
creepy. But Mr. Jones is being compensated, so… “progress”?
I’m glad to hear they had Jones’ blessing but it’s kinda shitty that an AI is doing a job that another voice actor can do.Matt Sloan does a spot on Vader for years on pretty much any Lucasfilm thing that wasn’t at James Earl Jones level budget(or interest). He’s the voice of Vader in pretty much every video games or animated appearance in the last decade.
It’s like the CGI Tarkin – there’s no reason that another razor-cheeked British guy couldn’t play the character, but the technology is kind of its own point. And now the Star Wars franchise is carving out an interesting historical role, documenting the evolution of CGI characters since the late 90s. Also, endlessly recycling resources has been their MO since the Disney merger. They can’t do a story without tying it to the Original Trilogy – using technology to resurrect or permanently extend the likeness of the original cast members is a logical extension of the zombie-ish state of the series.
I think there may be some sort of a line in terms of respecting the actor as well. If they were doing a big budget production and not asking him, that’s a good way to alienate someone who is well-liked. “Disney cuts James Earl Jones out of Star Wars” is an equally not great headline. I personally suspect there’s a fine line between didn’t want to do it and struggles to bring the same nuance to the voice at 91.
This is 100% confirmation that those in power learned the wrong lessons from The Matrix. Disney literally owns Wall-E AND the Sorcerer’s Apprentice! I am literally just like so lost. Disney has stopped casting actors and just started buying information that approximates a human. No more sharing is caring.
Shit like this is great and I’m tired of pretending it’s not.
Heckin’ dope.
He’s more machine now than man, twisted and evil.
I do get the concern that an actual voice actor could do a decent job but the Obi Wan Vader was indistinguishable from Jones’ actual performance. If you say you “knew” it wasn’t him you’re full of shite.
Would love to see them doing this for Majel Barrett, (with the family’s blessing of course).
She actually recorded a full set of phonetic sounds expressly for the purpose that her voice could continue to be used as the voice of the computer in future Star Trek series/movies.https://fantasticfacts.net/3443/
I remember reading that at the time, but it seems nothing ever came of it.
No sir, I don’t like it.
Ukraine has time to make Darth Vader voices? I guess the war’s going pretty well.
To be fair, I thought they did a great job with it in Obi-wan. I would have thought JEJ was doing the voice if I didn’t know otherwise. That said, I think they still have a ways to go with the technology when the voice isn’t already robotic – Luke’s voice in BoBF sounded like it stranded on the wrong side of the uncanny valley. (And unlike JEJ, who is in his 90s and gave his blessing, Mark Hamill is very much still a working actor – and voice actor at that.)
I can see JEJ’s point of view, Respeecher probably said ‘We can help make this character live on, you don’t have to do anything, and we will pay you.’ Sound’s like a win-win for everyone. The most important thing is the voice actor agreed to let Respeecher use his voice.
“I am altering the voice. Pray I don’t alter it any further.”