Posted in: Exclusive, Horror, Interview, Movies, XYZ Films | Tagged: exclusive, franklin ritch, interview, Lance Henriksen, Tatum Matthews, the artifice girl, xyz films

The Artifice Girl Star Lance Henriksen on Sci-Fi Cautionary Tale

Lance Henriksen (Rabbit Hole) talks to Bleeding Cool about his latest sci-fi thriller in XYZ Films' The Artifice Girl, technology & more.

If there's anyone aware of humanity's capacity to abuse technology to disastrous means, it's Lance Henriksen. With a career spanning six decades and over 250 projects to his name, the veteran actor has been a part of some of the biggest science fiction franchises, The Terminator and Alien. Known for his versatility, Henriksen flexed his range from playing fierce and intimidating villains to grizzled detectives across film and television. His latest XYZ Films' The Artifice Girl, which follows a team of special agents, discovers a revolutionary new computer program to bait and trap online predators. After teaming up with the program's troubled developer, they soon find that the AI is rapidly advancing beyond its original purpose. Henriksen spoke to Bleeding Cool about working with writer & director Franklin Ritch, the charismatic performance of his younger co-star Tatum Matthews who plays Cherry, and the film's social commentary on technology.

How' The Artifice Girl' Became Commentary on Technology

Bleeding Cool: What intrigued you about 'The Artifice Girl?'
Henriksen: The subject matter is something I'm terrified of, like we all are. What will happen with all of this [the way we live online]? [Thieves] can empty my credit card if I try to buy something online. It begins there. That's where we started, all of us. "Look! We can see the person we're talking to. 'The Artifice Girl is…I love the way Franklin made this story. He's trying to show the incredible…how more alive [this AI] and more like a human being all of this is starting to become. How clever it was the way he did it and the way he introduced it.

The police think they have a pedophile, and the truth of it is there's nothing like that, and we're all sitting on the edge of our seats to see if he'll be arrested or [asking] what is going on. It's like a good cop movie, and then it turns into something else where he starts to explain he's been doing it a long time, and they're going, "Oh?" What ends up happening is you introduce it step-by-step. That's the best way that this story could have been told. He's a clever guy.

It's a thought-provoking piece. I'm amazed at how artificial intelligence and sci-fi have evolved. That leads to my next question here. You've been exposed to this genre of science fiction already with your past work in projects like 'The Terminator,' and you've seen through time how AI and sci-fi evolved into its narrative. Can you speak about how times have changed? Does it feel like science is becoming more reality than fiction?
It's organic the way this was done because you're looking at Tatum [Matthew's character], and she's a living thing. That's where the cops in this story tripped on themselves because they didn't understand that's not a real thing. That's not a human. It's something else, and it pulls the audience in so deeply, so quickly, and then the time element. You see them young. You see us all young, and then we all end up aging and dying off as people do in life. If you notice, lately, a lot of actors have passed away. They get the attention, but it's like…anyway, the point is that these are introductions to some feelings you have. How did he know that was what I needed to know, right? I'm talking about Franklin. Do you agree that's the part that pulls us in?

I agree.
We see that they all pass away, and she's dancing. She's the same age. She hasn't changed. It's a unique, thorough, excellent setup.

Given the film's themes with our fascination with technology, is there something we can learn, perhaps a path we can save ourselves from, or is it something that's a poetic inevitability to our doomed fate?
I don't know if you've noticed how confusing it has become in politics. They're almost speaking another language or coming from another world. It's virtually impossible, and now 'The Artifice Girl,' when you see the source, starts from terrible abuse for the character of Franklin is playing in Gareth in the film. Over a lifetime from the five-year-old boy and it moved to end the same way that all our politics moved on. They start a war, people die, we regret it, we live with regret, and then things change. There comes a new hero that's making all kinds of promises. We don't know and are not very trusting and with good reason. I don't want to talk more about politics, but when you meet her, you're struggling with the idea that she must be a real person. That can't be AI. How many more surprises do we have coming our way? How many more? When you look at Tesla's workshop with its cars and everything, it seems like the future. It doesn't look like now. I don't even know that it exists. I don't know where the cars are made. I don't know anything.

Can you speak of Tatum's performance and presence on screen and what she brings to the film?
The performances in that are amazing because they rehearsed it like a play. They were prepared, everybody. [Franklin] did all the proper steps to make this movie and then to have a talent like Tatum. She can do anything. She dances, sings, and talks. She's a powerhouse of an actress at her age. It's incredible, and it started to show up all over the place.

The Artifice Girl, which also stars David Girard and Sinda Nichols, is available in theaters, on-demand, and digital.

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