A Star Wars Fan Went Viral Improving a ‘Mandalorian’ Scene With Deepfake Technology. Now He Works For Lucasfilm.
Lucasfilm has hired the fan who created an improved deepfake version of Luke Skywalker’s cameo in the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. The video, which employs deepfake technology on the younger version of Mark Hamill, went viral, catching the attention of the company.
The final episode of the second season of The Mandalorian employed a body double to play the young Luke Skywalker for his cameo. Visual artists then used CG technology to give the body double Hamill’s face, with Hamill lending his voice to the role for an added layer of authenticity. However, some fans were underwhelmed with the resemblance. Which is why a YouTuber, who goes by Shamook, took matters into his own hands.
Shamook, shared the video to his channel back in December of 2020. Since then, the viral clip has amassed over 2,000,000 views. His version of young Luke Skywalker bears a much stronger likeness to the original than the one that ended up in The Mandalorian. Lucasfilm noticed this, and decided to reach out to Shamook for a job opportunity.
Here's the original video:
In a recent comment thread on one of Shamook's more recent videos, he told his subscribers that he hasn't been releasing as much content due to his new position. Wrote Shamook (via ScreenRant): “As some of you may already know, I joined ILM/Lucasfilms a few months ago and haven't had the time to work on any new YouTube content. Now I've settled into my job, uploads should start increasing again. They'll still be slow, but hopefully not months apart. Enjoy!” Shamook's official title with the company is Senior Facial Capture Artist.
Lucasfilm’s decision to hire Shamook hints at the use of more de-aging and deepfake technology in future movies and TV shows. He has definitely proved his skill through his creative YouTube videos, so we can expect to see improved Star Wars deepfake cameos in the future.