On the third day of New York Comic Con, attendees were greeted to famed actor Nicolas Cage. According to Deadline, the Longlegs star addressed his not-so-bright future with the Amazon-owned TV and film imprint, Prime Video, which housed the now-canceled Spider-Noir.
As part of a “Spotlight” panel, Cage shared he had not signed an AI waiver when joining the Sony series that premiered earlier this year. View a clip of the interview below.
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“How do you survive AI?,” Cage said via Deadline. “Amazon is a very AI-friendly company to the tune of 50 billion dollars invested in OpenAI. I am not an AI-friendly actor….I’m not a member of their club. I didn’t sign the waiver to let them use AI on Spider-Noir. I’m probably not going to be working with that studio again, but that’s okay.”
Cage went on to explain he rather work with artists “going at it their own way, whether it’s through the YouTube culture or whatever it is” and insisting “They’re doing it from scratch and by hand. I want to get with that,” via Deadline.
In May, Amazon announced a fund to support generative-AI created projects, with three animated series being created via its Project Nara platform. The series were Punky Duck, Love, Diana Music Hunters and Cupcake & Friends. Punky Duck creator Jorge R. Gutierrez (El Guapo vs The Narco Vampires, Maya and the Three) canceled the project following online backlash.
Spider-Noir was a live-action series that followed Cage’s Into the Spider-Verse persona fighting a mob boss enlisting superpowered humans for his crimes. Amazon’s sister streaming service, MGM+, launched the series on May 25, and it premiered on Prime two days later. The show was filmed in both noir-centric black and white, and true-hue color versions.
The critically acclaimed series received multiple Emmy nominations, but was ultimately canceled. However, the streamer soon announced multiple TV projects within Sony’s Spider-Man universe.
While sharing his anti-AI stance, Cage apparently confirmed his appearance in the fifth season of HBO’s True Detective anthology series. Cage had been in talks for the project since last year, discussing how to balance the role with his other TV and film projects. Originally airing in 2014, the crime series’ fourth season, Night Country, aired two years ago with Jodie Foster (Contact, Panic Room) and Kali Reis (Resident Evil, Catch the Fair One) starring. The show was renewed in February 2024.
