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AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood has a movie coming out. Spare us this future (The Guardian, 7/11/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/11/ai-actor-tilly-norwood-movieRejoice, cinema lovers. Tilly Norwood is back! Not familiar? I don’t blame you, as she’s not exactly a household name yet – though a fleet of well-fed publicists is certainly trying to rectify that. Tilly Norwood is an “AI actor”, as in, an actor that’s not actually an actor at all. Just a series of digital blobs and lines of code designed to resemble a young woman in the lucrative 18-to-49-year-old target demographic. Thus far, Tilly has lived exclusively in easily digestible social media clips and hyperbolic press releases about the “future of entertainment”. But now, “she” (I feel like a complete buffoon for assigning a gender to a computer program) is finally ready for the world of feature films. The company Particle6, which spat out this risible creation, announced that it has commenced development on a motion picture starring this very elaborate and expensive cartoon avatar.
The film, titled Misaligned, will see Tilly seduced by a rogue program into experimenting with human emotions – “desires, impulses, and ambition”, as described by Variety. The company claims that the film will be a “coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos”. I can’t help but wonder what resonance a “coming-of-age story” can have if the protagonist is a computer program that doesn’t understand the concept of time, ageing or mortality. Does Tilly Norwood understand the concept of a 24-hour day? Does “she” know the glorious warmth of a mid-afternoon sun? Has “she” ever forgotten to move her car because it’s street cleaning day on her block? Tilly Norwood, being an animated sprite, is neither “coming” nor “of age”. But then again, isn’t acting all about accessing experiences you’ve never had?
That’s sort of why acting and drama have survived for centuries. We connect across social and cultural divides, through prejudices and selfishness, to jointly witness someone tap into the well of human emotion. In that grand spectacle, one hopes the movie, play or TV series can engender empathy or a deeper understanding of the shared dilemma of being alive. Compelling stuff. I’d say ol’ Billy Shakespeare was on to something.
-snip-
What I’ve been told by the Misaligned PR push is that this is actually a movie about a machine, made by a machine, describing a machine’s evolution. The Toy Story movies are about talking action figures, but those hunks of plastic are gifted with a spirit through thoughtful writing and memorable human voice acting. It might be grand fantasy, but it is also first and foremost a saga about how we, as people, grow up, and our imaginations being expressed through toys. Perhaps I should reserve judgment until Misaligned carpet-bombs our screens (if it ever does), but I hope you’ll forgive me if I hit the delete button and move on with my days instead.
The film, titled Misaligned, will see Tilly seduced by a rogue program into experimenting with human emotions – “desires, impulses, and ambition”, as described by Variety. The company claims that the film will be a “coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos”. I can’t help but wonder what resonance a “coming-of-age story” can have if the protagonist is a computer program that doesn’t understand the concept of time, ageing or mortality. Does Tilly Norwood understand the concept of a 24-hour day? Does “she” know the glorious warmth of a mid-afternoon sun? Has “she” ever forgotten to move her car because it’s street cleaning day on her block? Tilly Norwood, being an animated sprite, is neither “coming” nor “of age”. But then again, isn’t acting all about accessing experiences you’ve never had?
That’s sort of why acting and drama have survived for centuries. We connect across social and cultural divides, through prejudices and selfishness, to jointly witness someone tap into the well of human emotion. In that grand spectacle, one hopes the movie, play or TV series can engender empathy or a deeper understanding of the shared dilemma of being alive. Compelling stuff. I’d say ol’ Billy Shakespeare was on to something.
-snip-
What I’ve been told by the Misaligned PR push is that this is actually a movie about a machine, made by a machine, describing a machine’s evolution. The Toy Story movies are about talking action figures, but those hunks of plastic are gifted with a spirit through thoughtful writing and memorable human voice acting. It might be grand fantasy, but it is also first and foremost a saga about how we, as people, grow up, and our imaginations being expressed through toys. Perhaps I should reserve judgment until Misaligned carpet-bombs our screens (if it ever does), but I hope you’ll forgive me if I hit the delete button and move on with my days instead.
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