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The movies need Sydney Sweeney
Yearning for that old alchemy of larger-than-life artiste and mass audience may be the only thing that keeps cinema off life support.
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The career of American actress Sydney Sweeney seems like a foretaste of the second future.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ross Douthat
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In one scenario for the pop-cultural future, soon we’ll have movies without movie stars. In this scenario, generative artificial intelligence (AI) will produce infinite movie-like stories on the cheap, bespoke and tailored to micro-audiences, featuring “actors” created exclusively for the purpose.
Maybe some of these creations will be digitally pilfered from the library of departed greats – want to see Humphrey Bogart in a “Star Wars” movie? Here you go!
