Keanu Reeves says deepfakes are 'scary' and he won't allow films to digitally alter his face

If you've been anywhere near the internet recently, then you'll know that deepfakes are on the rise - with some seriously disturbing consequences.

Now, Keanu Reeves, 58, has weighed in on the digital phenomenon and said that he's completely against them potentially being used in Hollywood.

The actor made the revelation in a new interview with Wired as he promotes the impending release of John Wick: Chapter 4, which is hitting screens in March.

He explained that he is so against technology of this kind that he ensures there is a clause in his acting contract which prevents directors from altering his performances digitally.

"Yeah, digitally. I don't mind if someone takes a blink out during an edit," he said.

"But early on, in the early 2000s, or it might have been the '90s, I had a performance changed. They added a tear to my face, and I was just like, 'Huh?!' It was like, I don't even have to be here."

ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo

Reeves then went on to explain that he dislikes deepfakes so much because they take away the agency of a performer.

"When you give a performance in a film, you know you're going to be edited, but you're participating in that." he said. "If you go into deepfake land, it has none of your points of view.

"That’s scary. It's going to be interesting to see how humans deal with these technologies. They're having such cultural, sociological impacts, and the species is being studied. There's so much 'data' on behaviours now."

Alamy / FlixPix

Reeves went on to cite an example from his own life that made him all too aware of how normalised extreme digital alteration is becoming.

He said he was discussing The Matrix with a 15-year-old fan, telling them that his character, Neo, was fighting for reality, and the teen replied: "Who cares if it's real?"

"People are growing up with these tools: We're listening to music already that's made by AI in the style of Nirvana, there's NFT digital art," the actor said.

"It's cool, like, Look what the cute machines can make! But there’s a corporatocracy behind it that's looking to control those things. Culturally, socially, we're gonna be confronted by the value of real, or the non-value. And then what's going to be pushed on us? What’s going to be presented to us?"

John Wick: Chapter 4 is officially released on 24 March.

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