Nicolas Cage Warns Young Actors About AI

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Cage Match

Nicolas Cage has some practical advice for young actors about artificial intelligence.

Speaking at the 25th Newport Beach Film Festival on Sunday, the “Longlegs” star warned up-and-coming performers not to allow their work to be manipulated by AI into “employment-based digital replicas” (EBDRs)—even within the narrow limits outlined in the latest protections.

Understanding EBDRs

EBDRs represent one of two categories of digital replicas addressed in the landmark agreement between performers and studios that followed the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2026. While “independently created digital replicas” permit the generation of full AI clones without an actor’s involvement, EBDRs require the performer’s physical participation for a specific production—such as AI-assisted de-aging of an actor’s face.

Cage argues that even this restricted application hands studios excessive control over an artist’s work.

Line in the Sand

“The studios want this so that they can change your face after you’ve already shot it—they can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance,” Cage said.

In response, he proposed a clear principle for actors to follow.

“I’m asking you, if you’re approached by a studio to sign a contract permitting them to use EBDR on your performance, I want you to consider what I am calling MVMFMBMI: my voice, my face, my body, my imagination—my performance, in response,” Cage said. “Protect your instrument.”

Lessons from Experience

The self-styled practitioner of Nouveau Shamanic and Western Kabuki speaks from direct experience. In a 2026 interview with Yahoo Entertainment, where he described AI as a “nightmare” and “inhumane,” Cage expressed disappointment with his brief Superman appearance in 2026’s “The Flash,” noting that digital alterations significantly changed the performance he had filmed.

Cage has continued to voice concerns about the technology. Speaking to The New Yorker in 2026, he admitted he was “terrified” of AI and its potential impact on artists and their legacies.

“I mean, what are you going to do with my body and my face when I’m dead? I don’t want you to do anything with it!” he told the magazine.

With major studios increasingly embracing the technology, these concerns are becoming more urgent than ever.

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