From playing Princess Diana in The Crown to a superhero villain in Deadpool & Wolverine, Emma Corrin’s brought a variety of characters to life on screen.
Now, the actor is playing a old school screen siren in the new season of Black Mirror, but as always with the mind-bending series, there’s a twist – and it’s a technology advance Corrin labels “very scary”.
Speaking to 9honey Celebrity in London, Corrin, who uses they/them pronouns, says the use of AI in films which the episode explores, is a “slippery slope”.
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“I don’t feel great about it, I think it’s quite scary,” they say of AI.
“I think the idea of losing this – person-to-person interaction in a room – and people losing control over their performance and their identity is very scary.
“I don’t understand it, really. I try not to engage with it because I’m a bit scared of it.”
Corrin’s character Dorothy Chambers is a Marylin Monroe-esque tragic old Hollywood star who once featured in the fictional 1940s classic romance, Hotel Reverie, which is meant to be as legendary as the real life Casablanca.
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Movie executives decide to remake the film, using modern-day Hollywood star Brandy Friday (played by Issa Rae) as the new lead and insert her into the scenes using AI – and, of course, trouble ensues.
The episode hits the nail on the head of industry concerns that sparked the long writers and actors strikes of 2023.
Although, writer and creator of the series, Charlie Brooker, tells 9honey Celebrity he had the idea before the strikes but the issues raised by it helped him refine the story more.
“There was a sort of half-formed version of that idea floating around for quite a while, certainly, like from last season,” Brooker says.
“Originally, I was discussing doing a story that was about a character who gets thrown into the role of a James Bond-type figure, for instance, was where I was originally sort of thinking of that.
“Then obviously, the AI angle gives you your Black Mirror in, so that’s definitely in my head.
“And obviously it’s a thing that we’re all, I mean pretty much everyone, I think, is probably worried that AI might be coming for their job.
“Although the aspect we’re coming at in this story is somewhat different, it’s a slightly different take on it. It’s more about what it is to be human in this story.”
The idea of AI in films is something that unnerves some of the Season 7 cast members, who appeared in other episodes of the anthology series – where each episode is it’s own self-contained story, like a mini-movie.
Bête Noire star Siena Kelly tells 9honey Celebrity she thinks she has “a healthy worry about it”.
“I know that the most important thing to a lot of people at the top is profit,” the actress says.
“There’s no better way to make more money than not having to hire people. So, yeah, I do have a, I think reasonable fear, and I’m very, very proud and impressed and I’m happy with the work that SAG [Screen Actors Guild] did, and the writer’s strike and all of that – that was incredible and needed to happen.”
Kelly, a self-confessed technophobe, says she’s “a little bit wary of the power that technology gives us”, while her episode co-star Rosy McEwen is “terrified by the constant stream of information and messaging that we’re getting”.
“You’re constantly being told to buy that new skincare, or go on that diet, or you need this amazing top,” McEwen tells 9honey Celebrity.
“It’s like it encourages this feeling that we’re lacking always and I think that’s really sad.”
Lewis Gribben, who stars in the Plaything episode, can identify with his character’s gaming obsession and says it’s easy for social media to feel like an “addiction” sometimes.
“Instagram, is one of my favourite apps, and I do get endorphins when I get a lot of hearts on something, yeah,” he tells 9honey celebrity.
“Then when some get less likes than the other person, you’re like, ‘Why? This is a good post’.
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“You can feel like it’s an addiction, and you’re like, ‘Oh God, I need to quell that’ sometimes, and all that kind of thing.”
For Corrin the one thing that personally unnerves the star about modern technology is “how much our attention spans have changed”.
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“The snippets of information that we’re being conditioned to engage with on social media, it’s bite size, instant gratification, isn’t it?,” the actor tells 9honey Celebrity.
“And now if you sit down to read a book, it feels like you’re climbing Everest, and I think that’s so bizarre.”
Season 7 of Black Mirror is available to stream on Netflix now.
Nine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan.
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