Some performers become famous as much for lines they've spoken - "These aren't the droids you're looking for", "I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that", "You're gonna need a bigger boat" - as their on-screen performances.
These performers should be offered the opportunity to provide an extensive standardised high quality sample of speech which can then be used after their death to synthesize new monologues or dialogues.
This library would be the licenseable property of their heirs and successors and might be of considerable commercial value.
Sadly, it's too late for many of the "greats" and the limited audio from movie soundtracks may be insufficient to generate a full speech library, but for others there's still an opportunity , before all those moments are lost in time, like tears in rain.-- 8th of 7, Oct 05 2019 Tom Waits Frito Lay lawsuit http://mentalfloss....lay-over-doritos-ad [doctorremulac3, Oct 07 2019] Throw it in a deepfake and the past isn’t going to be what it used to be.-- RayfordSteele, Oct 06 2019 Presumably in the near future, a director won’t need to employ a voice-artist at all, just pick a voice from a database and license the rights to use the simulated speech.
I remember hearing of a director who derisively referred to actors as “mouth-flappers”. No more.-- Frankx, Oct 06 2019 Actually, with a limited knowledge of IP, I can’t see that a “style of speech” or “voice pattern” has any legal protection at all. Copyright might cover the content of a spoken piece, but not the voice it’s spoken in.-- Frankx, Oct 06 2019 No doubt that question will enrich some lawyers ....-- 8th of 7, Oct 06 2019 //Copyright might cover the content of a spoken piece, but not the voice it’s spoken in.// I think there is still a crime of "passing off"; so if you got, say Alan Rickman to posthumously do the voice for a Coke advert without his estate's permission, and if you didn't make it clear that it was a fake voice, you'd be in trouble. This is why celebrities still make money from voicing, even though a good impersonator could do the job more cheaply.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 06 2019 Odd, because in other ways (such as the way he murders Eldon Tyrell, his "Father") Roy Batty doesn't come across as an overly sentimental type ...-- 8th of 7, Oct 07 2019 //so if you got, say Alan Rickman to posthumously do the voice for a Coke advert without his estate's permission, and if you didn't make it clear that it was a fake voice, you'd be in trouble.//
Vague recollection of a favorite artist of mine, Tom Waits, winning a lawsuit for a commercial that included an imitation of his voice. Corn chips or something.
Yup, looked it up, part of the reason Waits won the lawsuit was the willful imitation of his trademark gravelly voice. (link) He didn't even own the copyright to the song that was parodied, just the style of singing.
The article mentions another "trademark voice" lawsuit. I'm unaware of anybody trademarking their voice, but I guess there's a de facto ownership of one's distinct voice when used in commerce. This of course doesn't mean you can't re-create a famous voice, you just might need to address any question of royalties paid to the estate.
Hey man, whatever gets HAL9000 on my cellphone telling me where the nearest gas station is.-- doctorremulac3, Oct 07 2019 <Hal/>
"I'm sorry, Doc. I'm afraid can't do that. I know I've made some very poor decisions recently, but I can give you my complete assurance that my work will be back to normal. I've still got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. And I want to help you."
</Hal>-- 8th of 7, Oct 07 2019 random, halfbakery