Tom Holland is really getting around these days. From his starring role in the upcoming Uncharted movie to an assortment of smaller passion projects, he’s come a long way since his relatively recent debut as Spider-Man. But thanks to Deepfakes, he’s managed to get deeper into his breakout character without even trying.
YouTube channel Shamook is at it yet again with another high-quality Deepfake. This time, they’ve stuck Holland himself into what many still consider to be the best Spider-Man film of all time, 2004’s Spider-Man 2 (as directed by Sam Raimi). While there are certainly some “uncanny valley” elements that clue viewers into the inauthenticity of the clips shown, it’s still overall a well-done piece of work. Actually, swapping Holland’s face over former Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire almost turns the character into something else entirely.
From the start, Holland’s famously expressive eyebrows seem to be doing a lot of heavy lifting here. A common pitfall of many Deepfakes comes from the lack of expression in the face being pasted onto separate footage, like in Shamook’s recent Deepfake of Mel Gibson in Mad Max: Fury Road. However, Holland’s eternally concerned expression manages to compensate for that inherent flatness and matches Maguire’s performance somewhat faithfully in many cases. That’s not to mention the surprise Deepfake “cameo” from fellow Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield later in the video, which also works surprisingly well.
That isn’t to say it’s entirely flawless. Another common drawback to Deepfakes is the mouth movements. Certain parts of the video show Maguire speaking regularly while Holland (in the side-by-side comparison) looks like he’s almost humming the lines. Aside from that, his eyebrows can only do so much, as several segments still don’t match the expressions of the original. This gives the Deepfake footage a decidedly less dramatic quality, and as silly as the Raimi Spider-Man films could be, there was still a lot of heart behind them that isn’t quite all there in the A.I. generated recreation. There’s always value in classic superhero movies.
It’s easy to criticize videos like this, especially when they’re becoming so commonplace. However, some definitely stand above the rest due to the genuine effort put in. Just like another of Shamook’s videos, which used Deepfakes to cast Sebastian Stan as a young Luke Skywalker, it’s clear that the creator(s) knew what they were doing. Audiences already know that Holland makes a great Spider-Man, so seeing a new angle on how he might stack up against his predecessors is an interesting concept.
Besides, maybe the more of these videos get made, the better people will get at discerning between real footage and Deepfakes. As the technology becomes more sophisticated, a keen eye will likely be more and more valuable in debunking such things, so keep watching and keep critiquing.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is scheduled to be released in theaters on December 17, 2021.
Source: Shamook/YouTube
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