There have been some really interesting deepfakes in the world of James Bond. We’ve seen Outlander’s Sam Heughan step into the late Sir Roger Moore’s shoes thanks to the results of a fan poll casting him as the next 007. Plus, there was that time a young Harrison Ford virtually starred in a very different take on Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale. However, today’s entry into the world of deepfakery is one that takes the cake, as someone substituted Pierce Brosnan with Jim Carrey in The World is Not Enough, and the results are absolutely wild.
Digital artist Jarkan, the same talented hand behind turning Millie Bobby Brown into Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger, has dipped into the world of James Bond for their latest piece. With Jarkan’s pedigree also including a rather brilliant attempt to fix Henry Cavill’s mustache problem in Justice League, there’s pretty much nothing that’s off the table. With that in mind, take a look at what Jim Carrey could have looked like as 007:
There’s one thing I need to get out of the way before we go too far into this discussion, and it’s that I don’t mind the idea of a serious Jim Carrey. Through movies like The Truman Show, Man on the Moon and The Majestic, Carrey’s gone above and beyond, shattering expectations left and right. With that being said, this mashup with his face and Pierce Brosnan’s voice is certainly wild.
It’s really weird hearing Mr. Brosnan’s voice coming out of the same face that gave us the catchphrase, “Alrighty then!” Even with the history of James Bond giving us legitimate 'what if' scenarios like the potential casting of Burt Reynolds, the texture of Pierce Brosnan’s voice is 100% married to his face. The same could be said for any 007 actor, which puts the various deepfakes we’ve seen on different levels of comfort.
Moving to the quality of this deepfake, the visuals are pretty solid in the end result. The only real caveat is that it looks like Jim Carrey’s James Bond has slight patches of sunburn on his face due to his complexion contrasting with that of Pierce Brosnan. Though The World is Not Enough does open in Spain, so a simple deleted scene where Bond takes a quick trip to the could fix that. Besides that catch, it’s a rather interesting exercise to behold.
The Jim Carrey/Pierce Brosnan switch in this riff on The World is Not Enough is probably the most extreme example of what you can do with a deep fake. Though just seeing what a Carrey-fronted James Bond movie could look like is proof enough that deepfakes are as entertaining as they are informative. As we wait for No Time To Die to debut in theaters this fall, it’ll be fun to see who else gets to virtually play Bond, James Bond, thanks to the digital artists who can dream up any scenario imaginable.
