A de-aged Mark Hamill (left) and Shamook’s deepfake version (right) from a scene in “The Mandalorian” (Image: screengrab from YouTube/Shamook)
Lucasfilm has hired the YouTuber behind the viral deepfake attempt at “The Mandalorian” finale featuring a young Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
The YouTuber, who goes by Shamook online, announced via his channel with the same name that he has been working for Industrial Light Magic (ILM)/Lucasfilm for several months now.
“As some of you may already know, I joined ILM/Lucasfilms a few months ago and haven’t had the time to work on any new YouTube content,” he said via the comments section of his video “Robert [Pattinson] as Batman [DeepFake]” posted on July 8.
Shamook went viral after uploading his reworked Luke Skywalker scene in the finale of “The Mandalorian” season two, which used a de-aged Hamill.
While fans were elated after seeing the iconic Skywalker return, some could not help but point out the CGI issues surrounding the de-aging of Hamill.
In Shamook’s version, which has so far gained around 2.7 million views, he used deepfake technology to make the de-aging more realistic and natural.
Due to his talent, Shamook received praise from his viewers and eventually landed him a job on the company behind the said “Star Wars” show.
ILM confirmed hiring Shamook in a statement shared with IndieWire last Monday, July 26.
“ILM always on the lookout for talented artists and have in fact hired the artist that goes by the online persona ‘Shamook,'” a representative for ILM was quoted as saying.
“Over the past several years ILM has been investing in both machine learning and A.I. as a means to produce compelling visual effects work and it’s been terrific to see momentum building in this space as the technology advances,” ILM added. /ra
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