# Will we ever have CGI actors? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2013, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121 "2013-09-18T03:22:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/41 "2013-09-20T19:22:06Z")
Why not? We’ve already had animated actors. Look at Mr. Magoo, who has an [entire TV series](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053522/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2) based on him playing different roles. Mickey Mouse often played different characters (e.g., the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Bob Cratchett), as did Bugs Bunny (“What’s Opera Doc?”). The Muppets also played roles in **A Muppet Christmas Carol.** Jerry from Tom and Jerry danced with Gene Kelly. A CGI star is no different than that. ---
**Author:** ![MrBurger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MrBurger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrBurger)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/42 "2013-09-20T22:18:49Z")
I would say any movie with Sam Worthington in it. I don’t think he’s really an actor, just some low res leftover from the early 2000’s before they could get CGI characters to show emotion or anything besides bland expressions. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/43 "2013-09-20T23:06:12Z")
Mr. Clean looks creepy. I want to see Humphrey Bogart starring in new "film noir"movies…how long for this? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/44 "2013-09-20T23:50:51Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It sounds to me like this isn’t much different from the old conceit that cartoon characters (such as Mickey Mouse) or puppets (such as Kermit the Frog) are actors who can appear as characters in other movies (both “actors” have “played” Bob Cratchit in versions of “A Christmas Carol”). > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Why not? We’ve already had animated actors. Look at Mr. Magoo, who has an [entire TV series](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053522/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2) based on him playing different roles. > > Mickey Mouse often played different characters (e.g., the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Bob Cratchett), as did Bugs Bunny (“What’s Opera Doc?”). The Muppets also played roles in **A Muppet Christmas Carol.** Jerry from Tom and Jerry danced with Gene Kelly. > > A CGI star is no different than that. By the powers, you’re right! I hadn’t thought of it like that. Though they have to be established as characters in their own right first, nonetheless it’s probably inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/45 "2013-09-21T00:04:35Z")
Hell, Mickey is already kind of a CGI actor, just not in movies yet. While they’re all named “Mickey”, King Mickey in Kingdom Hearts is basically a completely different person than Mickey in Epic Mickey. Maybe that doesn’t count, since the draw is still “Mickey!” but, they’re really different roles with different personalities. (And funnily enough, Epic Mickey treats Mickey kind of like he’s a famous actor who got famous on his cartoons, if we want to get all meta in this thread). ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/46 "2013-09-21T00:20:01Z")
A CGI model created specifically to be used as an actual actor in several roles? Doubtful. I mean, you could take Ray Winstone’s mesh from Zemeckis’ 2007 movie _Beowulf_ and have Winstone voice the same virtual body in, say, a gangster movie… But frankly, it would male more sense to use a whole new mesh, maybe smaller and less muscular to fit in better with the setting of the story. However, a truly realistic cgi actor that looks like a real historical person, or even a well known human actor (say, Bogart or Marylin) used in several roles? Yeah, I can see that happening. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/47 "2013-09-21T00:31:27Z")
I remember there being a shitty Disney Channel movie or show about a holographic girl that was used as a pop star until she developed a personality and decided she didn’t want to be anymore or… something like that. Which, of course, isn’t a real example, but an interesting fictional one. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/48 "2013-09-21T00:40:43Z")
Wasn’t there an Al Pacino movie called S1mone or something that was about this idea? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/49 "2013-09-22T04:39:16Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > There was a movie, Looker from 1981, that dealt with this possibility. It starred Susan Dey as a model/actress who got plastic surgery to make her even more beautiful. There was a scene where she had to stand nude on a platform so that a computer could scan her image and then her image could be manipulated to perform in various commercials, TV shows, movies, etc. The drama began when other model/actresses who had also under gone the knife were being killed by a secret corporation who didn’t want the real women alive to cause trouble, I guess. Being the early '90s, the special effects were not impressive, but the idea is there. Thank Og! I was going crazy reading the first 36 posts and thinking “WTF??? Am I the only person on the Dope who owns a copy of _Looker_?” ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/50 "2013-09-22T05:05:34Z")
Apparently there were only a dozen basic monsters in _Monsters, Inc._ that were modified with different skins and appendages. They expanded that quite a bit in _Monsters University_. So the argument could be made that the same digital “actor” played many parts - but you’d look silly making it. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/51 "2013-09-23T03:04:06Z")
I’m going to say, by the OP’s definition, no. A CGI character, everything is that ‘character’. Including the clothes. CGI characters don’t change clothing. You change the character. Odds are if you are in a different film, you’d be wearing a different costume. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/52 "2013-09-23T05:22:27Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I’m going to say, by the OP’s definition, no. > > A CGI character, everything is that ‘character’. Including the clothes. CGI characters don’t change clothing. You change the character. Odds are if you are in a different film, you’d be wearing a different costume. This is totally incorrect. Perhaps you haven’t seen _The Incredibles_? Or _Despicable Me 2_? Or _Meet The Robinsons_? A CGI character can change clothes just like a real live actor can change clothes if his character demands it. ETA: In fact, any animated character can too: Elmer Fudd is still Elmer Fudd even when he isn’t wearing his hunting clothes, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121/53 "2013-09-23T08:05:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > This is totally incorrect. Perhaps you haven’t seen _The Incredibles_? Or _Despicable Me 2_? Or _Meet The Robinsons_? A CGI character can change clothes just like a real live actor can change clothes if his character demands it. > > ETA: In fact, any animated character can too: Elmer Fudd is still Elmer Fudd even when he isn’t wearing his hunting clothes, for instance. But no capes. Capes get caught on things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-we-ever-have-cgi-actors/669121.md?page=2)