Uncanny Valley: Natasha Lyonne to use ethical AI in her feature directorial debut

Natasha Lyonne has racked up over 130 screen acting credits over the course of a career that stretches back to the mid-1980s – and now she’s ready to make her feature directorial debut. Variety reports that Lyonne, who has co-founded an AI production studio called Asteria, will be taking the helm of Uncanny Valley, a film that will be made by “combining AI tools with traditional filmmaking techniques.” Asteria is described as an “artist-led, ethical AI film and animation studio.”

Lyonne wrote the screenplay with Brit Marling, the co-creator and co-showrunner of The OA and A Murder at the End of the World. Lyonne and Marling will both have acting roles in the film, which is set in a parallel present and follows Mila, a teenage girl who begins to lose her grip on reality as a globally popular augmented reality video game starts glitching feverishly with increasingly dangerous real-world consequences. Variety notes that the “open world video game” element of the film will be created by Lyonne, Marling, and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier, using Moonvalley’s “Marey” foundational AI model.

Lyonne provided the following statement: “The scope of what’s possible with these new technologies when used ethically and creatively is astounding. Bringing something so bold to life feels radically expansive and exciting. I’m immensely grateful for this opportunity from Asteria and to witness this emerging era from the front lines.” Marling added, “Science fiction can be a powerful tool of resistance — imagining what could be instead of what is. With Asteria’s team, we hope to pioneer ways to use AI that allow filmmakers to tell high-concept stories on budgets that allow for real innovation.“

Asteria CEO Bryn Mooser and Justin Lacob are producing Uncanny Valley with Lyonne, Marling, and Marling’s The OA and A Murder at the End of the World collaborator Zal Batmanglij. Lyonne’s Animal Pictures is producing with Asteria. Speaking with Deadline, Lyonne assured that they’re not using the usual “dirty model” of AI, acknowledging that the data theft at play in some AI tools is a real problem. The Poker Face star said, “I just heard we have this first clean foundational model that is copyright-clean that you can build on, but ultimately that is a tool. That’s not going to omit any department heads or production designers or cinematographers. This movie I’m doing with Brit Marling is actually a real film.” She compared using this clean AI to using something like a green screen, as it will allow her “to do a film at a greater scale.“

Lyonne has previously directed episodes of Orange Is the New Black, Shrill, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, High Fidelity, Russian Doll, and Poker Face, as well as the variety special Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine and the stand-up special Jacqueline Novak: Get on Your Knees.

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