Are DeepFakes a path to epic, multiple decade story arcs?

We live in a day and age where films are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In some cases, franchises can be worth billions. At the same time, the studios are also very much on the long term continuity train.

To deal with the nasty, annoying inconvenience called "time" - we work around the challenges by either rapidly releasing movies before contracts expire, working in unusually large gaps of time, or just rebooting and recasting.

This isn't a new issue. Even before there was true "reboot mania" - you would see recasts often. Keaton, Clooney, Kilmer all played the same batman. Now we have Affleck and the shimmery guy.

• How long until the industry starts to use DeepFakes to retroactively tie it all back together?
• What does it mean for the industry, the contracts and royalties?
• Who really owns "a face?"
• Will we one day have another season of the Soprano's with Anthony Soprano alive and well, just played by someone with a similar body type?

Those are some of the questions floating around in my mind as I watched a clip from one of Christian Bale's Batman film recast with Robert Pattinson. It's not perfect. It is pretty damned close though.

Give that a watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aB5RiUMu_s&feature=emb_title

There are opportunities here. Apply this to stuntwork and you no longer have to rely on avoiding the face to sell the illusion.

What are the other applications though? Its only a matter of time until this can be done in real-time. Will we find ourselves being able to watch our own mug starring alongside Scarlett Johanson in her next sci-fi love story?

Or will we one day be able to pick and choose our ingredients like we're at some sort of 16 handles of film? If so, please show me the wizard of oz starring the cast of oceans 11 immediately.

Maybe there's something here for diversity. Will films one day be personalized so that a child of a certain race feels just as represented while watching Little Orphan Annie as my red haired niece does?

Or perhaps - when an actor finds themselves on a black-list - the series itself isn't tossed aside or having to kill off a lead. "House of Cards" starring Andrew Lincoln?

I don't know where it goes, but what I can tell you is - with the insane value assigned to popular films it's only a matter of time until contract disputes, age, or even death no longer represent the end of a series.

I am okay with that.

Also, since Keanu Reeves does all sort of random acts of kindness, I am going to end this one on a double dose of "whoa"