Investigation Discovery Uses AI Mask to Turn Actress Into Aileen Wuornos
Morag Peacock can still see herself underneath the face of Aileen Wuornos.
Investigation Discovery built its documentary series Unmasking a Monster: Aileen Wuornos around that effect, using an AI-mask tool in post-production to map Wuornos's features onto Peacock's performance, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The three-hour series aired on Wednesday, Sept. 30 from 8-11PM ET/PT and streams on HBO Max, according to Investigation Discovery.
The transformation started with practical work. Peacock spent 90 minutes in hair and makeup and wore one prosthetic tooth for the shoot. The AI work came later, in post-production, the phase after filming when editors and visual-effects artists assemble the final picture.
Nine other actors went through the same AI-mask process to match their real-life counterparts. The production needed a lead actor with basically the same face shape as Wuornos because of the state of the technology at the time.
Stephen Dost, vice-president of content at Arrow Media and an executive producer on the series, said the use of the AI-mask technology is a first for the industry. Arrow Media produced the series for Investigation Discovery, whose president is Jason Sarlanis.
Peacock said she can recognise herself in the finished footage. Her family can too.
What makes this stand out for viewers is that split. The performance stays human. The likeness is added frame by frame. For a true-crime retelling built on archive photos and familiar faces, that closeness is the whole point.
