Chris Pratt recently told Entertainment Weekly that he suggested an AI “actor” play the tyrannical AI judge in his new sci-fi thriller “Mercy.” However, the idea was quickly shut down by the production, and Rebecca Ferguson was cast in the role.
“I remember talking about the various people who could play these characters, and early on, I was like, ‘Should we have it be an AI, where the judge is actually AI, and we create an AI?’ And everyone was like, ‘No, I don’t think so,’” Pratt said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all.’”
He added, “So it was actually never a possibility any more than anything is a possibility when you’re zeroing in on what the outcome is going to be and what the choices are that you’re going to make. It’s a collaborative effort.”
Pratt then recalled another off-the-wall pitch he had early in the planning stages of “Mercy.”
“But one of my pitches early on was like, ‘What if [my character] could pick the judge, and I could pick Oprah, or I could pick anyone I want. Because ultimately it’s just a face on a [screen].’ And I thought that would be funny to have Oprah do it.”
Amazon MGM’s “Mercy” follows Pratt as Chris Raven, a cop from the near future who is on trial for the murder of his wife (Annabelle Wallis). Ferguson’s AI judge gives him 90 minutes to prove his innocence or face immediate execution.
The themes surrounding the oppressive nature of AI made the emerging tech a focal point during the “Mercy” press tour. At the film’s New York premiere, Pratt told Variety that he’s confident he’ll never be replaced by AI. He called the panic surrounding synthetic AI performers like Tilly Norwood “all bullshit.”
“I don’t feel like someone’s gonna replace me that’s AI,” Pratt said. “I heard this Tilly Norwood thing, I think that’s all bullshit. I’ve never seen her in a movie. I don’t know who this bitch is. It’s all fake until it’s something.”