Grimes licenses likeness for AI film “Gods Don’t Give Gifts”

Grimes will make a minutes-long cameo in “Gods Don’t Give Gifts,” an R-rated, AI-generated science-fiction feature heading for a U.S. theatrical release on Dec. 4. The musician, whose real name is Claire Boucher, will lend her likeness and vocal performance to the film.

Boucher plays Zaynith Alda in an early sequence of the nearly two-hour film. The character is a demanding aristocrat from the wealthy Halvorith family who seeks a dreamspool, an illicit induced experience that enables people to experience alternate realities in the world of NiiroCradle.

The role had already been written before Boucher joined the production, Variety reported. But director Zack London, who works under the name Gossip Goblin, and co-writer Jacob Batchelor subsequently adapted the character around her persona. Boucher also helped design Zaynith’s mechanical-looking mask, and the filmmakers dropped the British accent otherwise used in the film’s world for her performance.

The collaboration began after Boucher followed and interacted with London’s videos on X, then replied to clips posted by Gossip Goblin in March. London offered her the part, and the team recorded her lines remotely, with London, an editor and a sound engineer in Romania working with Boucher and her producer in Los Angeles.

Boucher declined payment for the use of her likeness, a decision confirmed by her spokesperson. London said she told the production to put the money toward the other actors and the film. Her spokesperson said she appreciated independent artists using new tools to make independent work, particularly amid big-studio monopolies, while also supporting standards and a constructive culture for AI in cinema.

Her involvement adds a high-profile celebrity to a film that is one of the first fully AI-generated features intended for theatrical release. Fable has arranged a Times Square campaign featuring Boucher’s character and held screenings for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences animation voters in New York and Los Angeles as part of an Oscars best animated feature campaign. Variety’s Awards Circuit did not include the film in its list of potential Academy contenders.

“Gods Don’t Give Gifts” is an anthology set in a future where bodies are disposable and consciousness has been commoditized. Its four interconnected stories examine the consequences of attempts to transcend the flesh, while the film more broadly satirizes humanity’s relationship with technology. London has said its central question is what happens to ordinary human instincts when physical limits begin to disappear.

The film is London’s feature debut. He and Batchelor wrote it, while London and Edward Saatchi produced it; London said its production involved more than 10 months of work by writers, artists, animators, voice actors, musicians and a conventional post-production team. He described AI as a means to tell the story at scale without compromising the team’s artistic vision.

In 2023, Boucher launched Elf.Tech, which allowed fans to use her vocal likeness in songs in return for 50% of master-recording royalties. She is also working on an AI-themed album, “Psy Opera.”

AGC International has added the film to its distribution slate and plans to present it to buyers at the American Film Market, while WME Independent is consulting on the global release strategy.