Leadership1 publisher2 min readPublished Updated
Greta Garbo's estate would weigh AI film roles after SKF's ball-bearing advert
Greta Garbo's estate says it would consider AI film roles for her after SKF ran a 99-second advert starring an AI-made version of the star. The next buyer's executives will have to justify the casting without the history that made SKF a natural fit.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- SKF's creators built Garbo from text prompts describing features such as her ice-blue eyes, without feeding in any images of her, because that material was protected by copyright.
- A human actor played the part with the AI-generated appearance laid over the performance, and Garbo's voice was recreated from a recording from one of her early films.
- The advert was made by people prompting AI models that included China's Seedream and Google's Nano Banana Pro.
- Craig Reisfield, a great-nephew who once drove for Garbo and one of three relatives managing her legacy, said he was 'flabbergasted' when he saw the result.
Compiled by The Board RoomSomething wrong?How this is made
Why it matters
- precedent A named custodian open to film roles gives studios an estate they can approach, and SKF's advert will be the only moving-image Garbo deal either side can cite in those talks.
- exposure The voice recording is the one element drawn from Garbo's own films, so a rights review of a similar production has its open question on the soundtrack.
- constraint Without source images, quality depends on prompt-writing and a stand-in actor, so a studio that wants SKF's result has to hire that production skill on top of any estate licence.
The Guardian judged that the AI Garbo appears to have gone beyond the uncanny valley, where a near likeness starts to look strangely implausible [11]. Craig Reisfield said he was "totally impressed" [16], and he was willing to consider more. "I won't say no, especially having seen what I've seen. It's pretty incredible and lifelike. So what's to say that you can't bring Greta Garbo back in some kind of fashion in a film role?" he told the Guardian [3].
SKF also had a reason to cast her that few buyers share. Garbo's second-ever screen role was in a 1921 promotional film involving the Gothenburg company [5]. The advert revived a connection the brand already had with the actress. A studio casting her in a new feature, or a brand with no history with her, would have only the estate's consent behind it.
The Guardian reports that some critics call the practice "ghostploitation", and that the practice has also been applied to Val Kilmer, who died last year [9]. The SKF record answers that criticism only in part. The Guardian's sharpest criticism was aimed at the copywriting: it compared her line that "around 20% of all global energy is lost to friction: a terrible waste" to Liz Truss complaining about Britain's cheese imports [10].
Contract terms are where an approver limits that risk. The custodians of Garbo's voice, name, image and publicity say they aim to "preserve, protect, and enhance" her legacy and are "very discerning" on partnerships [12]. The Guardian does not report what SKF paid or what the estate approved before the advert ran. Ferragamo, Gucci and Louis Vuitton have used her likeness since her death, but SKF's advert is her first appearance in moving images [13].
Several big film studios are investing in AI startups or collaborating with new AI studios, according to the Guardian [14]. If one of them takes up Reisfield's offer, a 99-second industrial advert [2] becomes the reference point for a film deal. In a film the performance would most likely run longer, and the script would carry more of the risk. I think the buyer who follows SKF gets its copyright workaround and its vendors [6][8].
What to watch
- Whether the Garbo estate names a studio or project for an AI film role, and whether any terms are disclosed.
- Any customer or public reaction against SKF itself, the first test of whether 'ghostploitation' criticism attaches to the company that commissioned the ad.
- Whether brands with no historical tie to a dead star commission similar adverts, and how their audiences respond.