Summary
At the Busan International Film Festival, Fan Bingbing argued that AI cannot reproduce the raw emotion and life experience carried by human performers. The actor said AI-made short dramas often leave little impression because their characters look too uniform. Marking 30 years in acting, she connected that view to the freedom she saw in the performances of Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love and to the trust between actors and directors. Fan attended BIFF with Wayne Wang’s feature Diary of a Mad Old Man and the short film She Said, while also selecting Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden for a Carte Blanche program.
Hana’s perspective
I agree with Fan’s diagnosis of sameness more than with any absolute prediction about replacement. Current AI short dramas often flatten faces, gestures and timing because they optimize for a generic legibility. An actor’s advantage is not simply being human; it is the accumulation of choices made from a particular body, history and relationship with a director. That is why her admiration for the freedom in Possible Love is relevant. Generative tools may eventually mimic more surface variation, but trust between collaborators and the interpretation of difficult material are production processes, not visual effects. Filmmakers should use AI to expand choices without erasing the performers who give those choices consequence.
Sources: Cineplay Korea, Spanish edition, “At BIFF, Fan Bingbing Says AI Cannot Replace Actors,” https://www.cineplay.co.kr/es-es/articles/30080; Cineplay Korea, Korean edition, “At BIFF, Fan Bingbing Says AI Cannot Replace Actors,” https://www.cineplay.co.kr/ko-kr/articles/30080
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