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Even in the AI era, there’s still no better way to reach a favorite artist than by sliding into their DMs.
Zack London, who directed the upcoming AI film “Gods Don’t
Give Gifts” under his moniker Gossip Goblin, had long been a fan of Grimes, the moniker of 38-year-old experimental pop artist Claire Boucher. But he didn’t necessarily expect that love to be mutual, not until he noticed she had followed his X account and started engaging with his videos.
Then in March, Boucher replied to clips shared on Gossip Goblin’s X account. London responded, offering her a role in a project of his. Sensing an opportunity, he then sent Grimes a direct message just expressing how much he loved her music.
“We started chatting, and it was like, ‘Oh, we know a ton of the same people,’” he tells Variety last month over lunch in Chelsea, coming off several prerelease screenings of the AI film. “She was like, ‘I would love to do something with you.’ And then, it was basically, ‘Well, I wish I knew that earlier, but let’s find a way for you to be in this.’”
The fruit of those DMs will bear next month in Boucher’s minuteslong cameo in “Gods Don’t Give Gifts,” the first AI feature set to debut in theaters. Boucher plays “Zaynith Alda” in one of the early sequences in the post-apocalyptic film, which aims to satirize humanity’s relationship with technology. Alda, a brash, demanding aristocrat who hails from the rich Halvorith family, seeks a “dreamspool” an illicit, induced experience in the world of “NiiroCradle” that lets people experience alternate realities.
Boucher’s cameo — and that of YouTuber and Logan Paul pal Mike Majlak, who also makes a brief appearance — injects a dash of celebrity into the bold ambitions of “Gods Don’t Give Gifts,” the R-rated sci-fi film trying to barrel its way past society’s aversion to AI films and into the best animated feature category at the Oscars. Fable, the AI studio behind the film, has leaned in, setting a Times Square marketing campaign featuring Boucher’s appearance.
The studio also hosted screenings targeting animation voting bloc members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences across New York and Los Angeles ahead of its Dec. 4 debut, eager to try and assuage the Academy’s concerns about all things AIand urge them to consider the gory film among the likes of the critically acclaimed “Wildwood” and “Toy Story 5.” (Variety’s “Awards Circuit” does not list “Gods Don’t Give Gifts” among the Academy’s potential contenders.)
“You only need to see Grimes’ brilliant performance in the film to understand how much things are about to change for animated movies,” Fable CEO Edward Saatchi said in a bullish statement. “We hope the Academy will recognize that a film that is seminal (the first AI film), wildly technically novel and (most importantly) good deserves a nomination.”
Boucher declined an interview request. Her spokesperson, Mitchell Jackson, said in a statement that Boucher “appreciates indie artists using new tools to create independent art—especially in the age of big studio monopolies.”
“She was particularly impressed that they had such a large team and were involving and compensating so many artists, voice actors, and musicians,” her spokesperson said. “She believes in supporting the right kind of culture around AI in cinema rather than acquiescing to the current model of having no standards.”
The Zaynith Alda character was already written into the film’s nearly two-hour runtime, but Boucher’s appearance forced London and his co-writer Jacob Batchelor to adapt the role around her persona. That meant giving her the chance to help design the character, including a mechanical-looking mask that adorns Alda’s face, and nixing the British accent native to the rest of the film’s world. Once those were set, a multi-continent team of London in Stockholm, his editor and sound engineer in Romania, and Boucher and her producer in LA worked together to record her lines from her home.
Is there a recording anywhere of Boucher attempting a British accent? “If there are, they’re on a hard drive somewhere,” London says.
Boucher is also one of the highest-profile examples of a celebrity authorizing their likeness for an AI project, following examples such as UFC fighters in Higgsfield’s “Cully Hill Boys” and “The View” co-host Sunny Hostinlicensing her image and novels to Fountain 0 to make AI adaptations — featuring her likeness — of her books. It’s a testament to celebrities’ slow embrace of AI in culture, including everything from Ben Affleck’s Netflix-owned InterPositive startup for AI tools to actors like Michael Caine licensing his voice to the AI audio firm ElevenLabs. Others, however, remain fearful that AI could exploit their likenesses without permission or compensation.
It helps that Boucher has long championed AI. In 2023, she launched an AI software program called “Elf.Tech,” where fans could use her vocal likeness in their tracks so long as she received 50% of the master recording royalties, and in a 2024 PBS interview called AI an “opportunity” for artists that, with democratized access to professional tools, could see “actual talent, like, really rise to the top.” For this film, London says Boucher authorized her license for free and refused to be paid, a fact her spokesperson confirmed.
“She said, ‘You guys are scrappy, just put that money towards the other actors [and] your film,’” London says, calling Boucher part of “a different class of artists that look at the big picture of what are you doing, what is the holistic statement surrounding, and not getting hung up on the process.”
Watch a clip of Boucher’s appearance below:
