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Project Dorothy: Danielle Harris on AI vs Human Acting & Legacy Roles

Danielle Harris (Project Dorothy) spoke to Bleeding Cool about human performance over technology and legacy roles she wants to return to.

The fight over artificial intelligence has been a sore subject for the bulk of 2023 between the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and the major Hollywood studios, especially when technology has changed the landscape of what comes from the artist—in the case of the first two, actors and writers wanted assurances from the studios that they wouldn't be replaced by AI, along with fair pay from streaming residuals. It's a topic that Danielle Harris faces as she not only performs in live-action but also performs in voice. With the emergence of digital performance in live-action and voice cloning, her future as an actor on both fronts faces uncertainty. The Halloween franchise star, who plays the killer AI in Gravitas Ventures' Project Dorothy, spoke to Bleeding Cool about the ways Hollywood has tried to cut corners in the past and existing limitations within current technology only humans can create in their performance, what else on her acting bucket list, and any legacy roles she wants to revisit as she reprised Molly, her role from Roseanne on ABC's The Connors in 2021.

Project Dorothy Star Danielle Harris on the Value of Human Performance

One of the major sticking points of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes creatively was the use of AI. I've talked to several voice performers who have concerns about being replaced. You have projects from Disney and Star Wars as they worked with Mark Hamill and James Earl Jones on their voices to do something like that and fine-tune their younger voices using AI for preservation rather than hiring another actor. Do you think it's the right direction for studio discretion on preservation, or should they be obligated to use actors regardless of role?
Harris: It depends on what side of the camera you're on. To answer the question, as a producer, I would say, "Fantastic! Great!" Take 'Back to the Future Part II,' for example, Crispin Glover didn't return, but he was still in the movie (via archive footage). As a producer, you're like, "I need this person, but they're not willing to work, or they're being difficult, but they should be here. Fuck them! I can do this. I can put you there or get a double or whatever."

Whether he got paid for that or it wasn't him, so he didn't. He's playing a character, and I know there's all this fight between, but is it me or my character? That's still a conversation we have all the time. Jamie Lloyd [from the 'Halloween' films] is on T-shirts, and yes, it's my face, but that's not me. As far as an actor, things like I was reading, 'When You Don't Make Your Day,' we've gotten to the 12th hour, and we still haven't gotten my coverage, they can use my AI to create that side of the scene without the actor being any part of it to save time because no overtime.

Half of your performance from that scene could be a computer. How, as a human, do you do it differently when each take and nuance is different? Depending on what the other person is doing is different, but I don't know the range that a computer will have when it comes to dealing with human emotions. We're saved there; if people don't accept AI and want us still, it will be good. Listen, we could sit on their computers, and we could Zoom or FaceTime all day long, but there's still something in us that makes us want to go out and get a cup of coffee with a human being, want to get out and interact and talk to somebody face to face.

There's not this thing in between us that still feels like a separation, even though you and I are communicating. I'm hoping that when you see movies when you're in the audience, you feel that way as well, that I'm not connecting to this movie. I'm not getting what I need because I don't see human beings there. I'm hoping that's the takeaway from what's going on. I can't say that I don't see AI completely taking over at some point. Hopefully, I won't. I'm glad I'm in my mid-40s because I'm like, "Okay, cool. I'm not a brand-new actress starting. My career is three-quarters done. I've had my time and am happy I was in it." I'm happy that I grew up in the 80s and 90s and am not growing up now. I've had my time, but by the time I'm no longer acting in front of the camera, there may not be actors the way we know them anymore.

Is there any other genre you must do on your acting bucket list?
It's about the character. It's about what kind of weight they give me to hold what I can do and if it sounds fun. I've been doing it for a long time, so there are scripts that come my way that I'm like, "This is going to be miserable" or "Oh, no, I don't want to do this." Some are like, "That's interesting. I'll do that. That's cool. I'd like to do that." It depends on the project. It'd be great to do a rom-com. It'd be great to do a fun, quirky, dialog-driven indie. It'd be amazing to be in a Duplass Brothers series. There are a million different things that I would like to do, anything for sci-fi.
I've never done anything on a TV show in that world. Now that horror movies are becoming TV shows, hopefully, that will happen to me at some point. That'd be lovely. Consistency and the ability to create a character for a long period is something we don't often get to do in movies. Unless you're me, you get to return a couple of times to different roles with more mother stuff. I've started to do stuff where I'm playing closer to my age. It's nice to watch that on film. It is a bit of a trip for me. To see me as a mom on the screen is odd. I still see myself as a kid actor and want to continue doing more of that stuff.

Has there been something you've meant to return to with the right opportunity? You've returned for 'The Conners', reprising your role from 'Roseanne' as Molly. Are there other legacy parts you want to think have more to tell?
There are a couple of characters that I don't have closure with. There's Jamie Lloyd. I was happy that I came back on 'The Conners,' even though it scared the shit out of me because it had been 30 years. I hadn't done a live audience show since I did 'Roseanne.' I only did an episode of 'Boy Meets World' because the live audience and all that dialog scares the crap out of me. I was challenged because I hadn't done it in so long, and coming back to that character on that stage and all the same producers and writers and actors, and it was 30 years later, it was a trip. As scary as it was back in 1992 for me, there are so many movies I would love to be part of. I did all those fun '90s movies. It would be great to come back and do a cameo or play myself older in some 'Halloween' stuff.

Project Dorothy, which also stars Timothy DeZarn, Adam Budron, and Olivia Scott is available on digital and on-demand.

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