Samuel L. Jackson is crystal clear about one thing when it comes to the contracts he signs. The renowned actor wants no part in allowing the use of his voice, image, and likeness “in perpetuity.” 

What this means is that once a film wraps, Jackson has no interest in allowing the usage of his voice, image, etc. beyond the project.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is a move that the Washington, D.C., native suggests all actors pay attention to, especially newcomers. He shares the details in a Rolling Stone interview.

His Advice To Future Actors

“Future actors should do what I always do when I get a contract, and it has the words ‘in perpetuity’ and ‘known and unknown’ on it: I cross that sh-t out,” Jackson told Rolling Stone. “It’s my way of saying, ‘No, I do not approve of this.’”

When speaking about his image and likeness being recreated for future use through artificial intelligence (AI), the actor shares that Hollywood has been using it for some time, even before his “Star Wars” prequel days.

The Use Of AI In Hollywood

“People just started worrying about that?” Jackson said. “I asked about that a long time ago. The first time I got scanned for George Lucas [for ‘The Phantom Menace’] I was like, ‘What’s this for?’ George and I are good friends, so we kind of had a laugh about it because I thought he was doing it because he had all those old guys in ‘Episode I,’ and if something happened to them, he still wanted to put ‘em in the movie.’”

For Jackson, this form of technology didn’t just end there. He spoke to the experiences he had while portraying Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which included the use of de-aging technology.

“Ever since I’ve been in the Marvel Universe, every time you change costumes in a Marvel movie, they scan you,” he recalled. “Ever since I did ‘Captain Marvel,’ and they did the Lola project where they de-aged me and everything else, it’s like, ‘Well, I guess they can do this anytime they want to do it if they really want to!’”

He recognized that this “could be something to worry about,” which is why he doubles down on reading the fine details of his contract.

On the other hand, some actors have no issue with handing over their talents to AI.

As previously reported by AfroTech, James Earl Jones officially retired as the voice of Darth Vader in September 2022 and signed off on archival voice recordings. Software will use AI to recreate the actor’s younger voice from previous films in the “Star Wars” franchise.

It looks like the world continues to play catch-up to the ever-evolving advancements of technology.