Tom Hollander on AI Starlet Tilly Norwood Maybe I Am Not Scared Enough Yet
Tom Hollander isn’t losing sleep over AI actors taking over Hollywood. In fact, the 58-year-old actor believes that synthetic performers might actually make real, live acting even more valuable.
Hollander stars as entrepreneur Cameron Beck in The Iris Affair, a gripping drama about the world’s most powerful quantum computer—nicknamed “Charlie Big Potatoes”—that could “eat ChatGPT for breakfast.” The show’s timing is perfect, coming at a moment when AI is moving faster than ever. Just last week, the world got its first glimpse of AI actress Tilly Norwood, making her Hollywood debut.
But Hollander isn’t impressed. He dismisses rumors that Norwood is in talks with talent agencies as “a lot of old nonsense” and questions how working with an AI would even function. “Would it be, like a blue screen?” he asks.
Norwood is a young, attractive AI created by Dutch actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden and her AI production studio, Particle6. The team plans to launch its own AI talent studio, Xicoia, soon.
Speaking to Sky News, Hollander admitted: “I’m perhaps not scared enough about it. I think the reaction against it is quite strong. And I think there’ll be some legal stuff. Also, it needs to be proven to be good. I mean, the little film that they did around her, I didn’t think was terribly interesting.”
The sketch in question, called AI Commissioner, poked fun at the future of TV in a world dominated by AI. Many Hollywood stars, including Emily Blunt, Natasha Lyonne, and Whoopi Goldberg, have raised concerns about Norwood. The US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA has also voiced objections.
Hollander likens watching an AI actor to watching a magic trick. “You know with your brain that you’re watching something that’s bullshit… If they don’t have to tell you, that would be difficult. But if they’ve told you it’s AI, then you’ll watch it with a different part of your brain.”
Norwood is being marketed as a dream hire: always on time, no ego, low salary, and she’ll never age—perfect by Hollywood standards.
Hollander’s co-star in The Iris Affair, Niamh Algar, who plays genius codebreaker Iris Nixon, isn’t worried either. She jokes about Norwood’s girl-next-door persona: “She’s a nightmare to work with. She’s always late. Takes ages in her trailer.”
Algar adds firmly: “I don’t want to work with an AI. No. I don’t think you can replicate it. She’s a character, she’s not an actor.” She points out that human audiences are drawn to unpredictability. “AI is too perfect. We like flaws,” she says.
Hollander agrees, seeing a silver lining for human performers. “There’ll be a fight for authenticity. People will be going, ‘I refuse makeup. Give me less makeup, I want less makeup because AI can’t possibly mimic the blemishes on my face.’”
He adds: “It means that live performance will be more exciting than ever before. I think live performance is one antidote, and it’s certainly true in music as well. There’s just nothing like it, and you can’t replace it.”
Algar is equally enthusiastic: “Theatre’s going to kick off. It’s going to be so hot.”
When it comes to using AI themselves, Hollander admits he’s tried it for “a bit of problem-solving,” but Algar avoids it, fearing “part of my brain is going to go dormant.”
Technology’s influence on humans also inspires—and worries—The Iris Affair screenwriter Neil Cross, who also created Luther. Cross tells Sky News: “We are at a hinge point in history. I’m interested in what technological revolution does to people. I have 3am thoughts about the poor man who invented the like button. He came up with a simple invention to make people happier… How could something so simple go so wrong? It’s caused so much misery and anxiety. If a small like button can do that, what will this AI revolution lead to?”
Cross admits he lives in “a perpetual state of terror.” The world is changing fast, he warns. “I think in 50 or 60 years’ time—probably 15 years’ time—the world is going to look very different.”
With The Iris Affair exploring themes that are moving from sci-fi to reality, Cross sees our fascination—and fear—of the unknown as central. “We’re in danger of creating God. And I think that’s the ultimate danger of AI. God doesn’t exist—yet.”
