This Christmas season, Amazon Prime has once again come under fire for allegedly trimming down an important scene from an all-time classic holiday movie. Last year, fans who tuned in to watch the beloved 1946 fantasy drama film, It’s a Wonderful Life, were in for a surprise.
One of the most crucial scenes from the third act was missing, drawing backlash, and the controversy has resurfaced this year after viewers came to a similar realization. Three different versions of the film exist in the service’s streaming library, further adding to viewers’ confusion.
“I saw this version! I was so confused,” one user said on X.
Directed by Frank Capra, the movie follows banker George Bailey, played by James Stewart, who attempts to take his own life on Christmas Day, until his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody, intervenes.
Amazon Prime allegedly deleted one of the most pivotal scenes in It’s a Wonderful Life
The movie explores George’s dissatisfaction with his life, having abandoned his personal ambitions to help the community of Bedford Falls. A series of misfortunes causes George to wish he had never been born.
As a result, Clarence takes him through an alternate timeline version of the town, now known as the unsavory “Pottersville.” During his time there, George sees how his absence would negatively impact the community, resulting in a bleak existence for many residents.
The scene marks a turning point in George’s journey as it changes his perspective on life and propels the story to a happy ending. However, the streaming service has allegedly removed the “Pottersville” sequence from the movie, which has earned it the ire of many subscribers.
Viewers first noticed the discrepancies last year during the holiday season and voiced their displeasure. Some sources attributed the cuts to the film’s long and complicated ownership and copyright history.
Viewers slammed Amazon Prime over the trimmed-down version of It’s a Wonderful Life
The controversy resurfaced this year as angry viewers slammed the edited version of It’s a Wonderful Life on X. Many agreed that the omitted scene is crucial to the narrative and dilutes its overall impact.
The confusion over the controversially omitted scene most likely stems from the streaming service housing three different versions.
The black & white version has a runtime of 118 minutes, which is less than the movie’s original 130-minute cut. The colored version is the same length as the original, while the “abridged” version is the most heavily trimmed down at only 106 minutes.
The latter also features the most egregious cuts, with viewers noticing that the entire war-affected history of Bedford Falls, George’s car accident, and his desperation on the bridge have been removed.
One Reddit user said of the abridged version, “It sounds like they super sanitized it, removing all the parts that are grim,” criticizing it for removing George’s “rock bottom” moment before everything goes back to normal and he’s overcome with joy.
Netizens encourage physical media ownership following Amazon Prime’s It’s a Wonderful Life controversy
Several netizens who were already aware of the edited versions encouraged others to purchase the movie physically so they could keep revisiting it each year.
“I’ve had this on disc for years for this very reason,” one user said on X.
Another fan added, “Exactly the reason I own DVDs. They can’t edit those.”
According to the New York Times, most collectors and hobbyists cited the alterations in digital versions as a major reason for purchasing physical media in 2025.
Fans of 1977’s Star Wars, which is another popular holiday title, have been unable to watch the original theatrical cut since director-producer George Lucas has only allowed streaming services to hold the re-release edition.
Despite fans disliking the digital editions, It’s a Wonderful Life continues to prove one of the most popular Christmas movies on streaming. According to FlixPatrol, it was among the top 10 most-watched movies on Amazon Prime during the Christmas period (December 24 and 25) this year.
Viewers discussed the best way to watch It’s a Wonderful Life after discovering there are three versions
Hey, all you cool witches and wizards! I know that a lot of you Magical Pandas are huge fans of the Harry Potter movies. If you’re like me, you can’t wait for someone to mention The Boy Who Lived because it’s the perfect moment to share all of your in-depth Wizarding World knowledge (yeah, I’m a geeky Ravenclaw—what gave it away?).
There are tons of delightful details, exquisite Easter Eggs, and interesting inside jokes hidden throughout the HP movies. We’re pretty sure that you might know a few of these, dear Readers, but some of the details we found honestly blew our minds.
So cast Descendium to scroll down and Wingardium Leviosa to upvote your fave Harry Potter details collected by our keen-eyed Bored Panda Aurors. Let us know in the comments what other hidden movie details you’ve found! Oh and when you’re done with this list, check out our post about an artist who drew several powerful scenes from the books that were missing from the movies.
#2 Snape’s First Encounter With Harry And His Secret Message
“One of the questions Snape asks is if Harry knows what would result in adding the powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood. Harry doesn’t know the answer, but that’s not the important part.
This is actually a coded comment that would be lost on all viewers that don’t have an extensive knowledge of Victorian-era flower symbolism. Asphodel is a lily, which means demise under the Victorian flower code, while wormwood reflects loss and absence. Snape is actually referencing Harry’s mother Lily with this comment”
Small details like the Cheeri-Owls cereal and how the Beauxbatons students are dancing the Macarena were completely new to me. Though I knew some of the other bits of trivia from having watched dozens of YouTube videos about HP theories, things people might have missed, and unusual interpretations of the source material. (Don’t go down that rabbit hole if you plan on doing anything productive today. Trust me.)
#4 In Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), You Can See A Portrait Of Anne Boleyn Hanging In The Staircase. Anne, A Wife Of Henry Viii, Was Accused Of Being A Witch, And Subsequently Executed
Even though the Fantastic Beasts movies are [ahem] not as Stupefying as the originals, they’re still fun to watch. The 3rd FB film should come out in November 2021. We’re still unsure about the plot but we do know that at least some of the action will take part in Brazil.
I don’t know about you, but I like to binge-watch all of the HP movies at least once a year. And with everything that’s going on this year, I think it’s about time for some magical escapism and to Accio ourselves some popcorn. It might be the 100th time we’re watching the movies but this time, we’ll keep an eye out for hidden details. You’d better watch out, You Know Who!
#7 In ‘The Sorcerer’s Stone’ Scene Where Neville Gets A Remembrall, He Can’t Remember What He’s Forgotten — But It’s Probably His Robe, As He’s The Only One Not Wearing One
#9 The Ways Harry, Ron, And Hermione Wear Their Scarves And Ties Reflect Their Personalities
In Sorcerer’s Stone, Hermione’s scarf is tied neatly and completely around her neck, Harry’s is loosely thrown over his shoulder, and Ron’s is just laying flat and open and not wrapped at all. Often with their ties, Hermione’s is tied perfectly and tucked in, Harry’s is loose but tucked in like he’s been messing with it, and Ron’s is completely untied.
#10 In Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (2002) Before Harry Gets Sucked Into Tom Riddles Diary, He’s In A Candle Lit Room. When He’s In The Diary, Everything Is In Black And White Yet, We Can Still See The Candle Light Flickering On His Body
#12 In Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2007), Harry Wears Button Down Sweaters At Da Meetings Similar To What Professor Lupin Would Wear. This Was Daniel Radcliffe’s Idea As He Thought Harry Would Want To Emulate His Favorite Dada Teacher
#14 In The Background Of The Cafe In Deathly Hallows Part I, There’s A Poster For The Play “Equus” — A Real Play That Starred Daniel Radcliffe And Richard Griffiths
#19 In ‘The Half-Blood Prince,’ When We See Tom Riddle’s Childhood Bedroom There Are Seven Rocks On The Windowsill In That Bedroom, Foreshadowing Riddle Splitting His Soul Into Seven Horcruxes
#20 When Oliver Wood Releases The Snitch While Teaching Harry How To Play Quidditch, He Immediately Loses Sight Of It, But Harry Keeps His Eye On The Snitch, Highlighting His Future Talent As A Seeker
#25 In Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004), A Courtyard Fountain Has Statues Of An Eagle Eating A Snake. This Is A Reference To The Mexican Flag. Director Alfonso Cuaron Wanted To Pay Tribute To His Mexican Heritage.
#28 In ‘The Sorcerer’s Stone,’ Harry’s Scar Burns Because Quirrell Has His Back To Him, Meaning Voldemort, On The Back Of Quirrell’s Head, Is Facing Him
#30 In The Chamber Of Secrets, Sherbet Lemon Is The Password Into Dumbledore’s Office. Then, In The Half-Blood Prince, The Candy Can Be Seen On Dumbledore’s Desk
#33 In The Sorcerer’s Stone, School Children Wearing Green School Uniforms Walk By The Reptile Room. This Is A Nod To Slytherin’s House Color Being Green And Their Symbol Being A Snake
Timothée Chalamet’s latest interview about his upcoming project, Marty Supreme, has seemingly left a poor impression on a segment of his fanbase.
Appearing on Good Morning America last Tuesday (December 16), the actor confidently defended the film’s quality, delivering a statement many took as him “predicting” he could win an Oscar.
“I don’t know, man. Should I not be saying this?” the actor said, before doubling down on his claim. However, some fans deemed the actor’s comment as “arrogant” and “desperate.”
“I have a feeling they’re not gonna give it to him because of how badly he wants it,” a viewer wrote.
Timothée Chalamet hyped up Marty Supreme in a new interview
In Marty Supreme, the 29-year-old actor is playing Marty Mauser, an aspiring ping pong player loosely inspired by real-life table tennis champion Marty Reisman. The story follows his character’s pursuit of greatness in 1950s New York City.
During the promotional appearance, Chalamet hyped up the movie by revealing that he underwent six years of ping pong training to prepare for the role. As a result, the actor showed no signs of nervousness ahead of its release on December 25, 2025.
“The real truth is with Marty Supreme, I feel confident to the degree that by next summer…,” he said before briefly pausing and second-guessing his comment. However, Chalamet doubled down on his confidence eventually, adding, “I’m confident. I know what it’s going to be by next summer.”
Fans find Timothée Chalamet’s comments arrogant and embarrassing
Although the actor did not explicitly state so, several netizens believed that the actor’s comment implied he would win an Oscar for his performance in the movie. One user reshared the clip on X with the caption, “Not Timotheé Chalamet basically saying that he knows he will be an Oscar winner by next summer.”
Several reactions framed Chalamet as “desperate” and “annoying.” “I didn’t know he was this pretentious,” another user added.
On the other hand, some fans defend Chalamet by pointing out that the Oscars aren’t held during the summer. “Literally just putting words in his mouth,” one user commented, while another stated, “But the Oscars are during winter.”
Timothée Chalamet is no stranger to making controversial comments
not timotheé chalamet basically saying that he knows he will be an oscar winner by next summer pic.twitter.com/In8862FbKE
This isn’t the first time one of Chalamet’s public statements has proven controversial among fans. During his appearance on a December 12 episode of The Graham Norton Show, the Dune star shared his interpretation of the ending to the iconic film Love Actually.
Chalamet felt that the ending suggested the main characters “resolve the dispute quite easily.” However, actress Emma Thompson, who was also present on the show, was quick to shut down his interpretation, stating, “I don’t think so.”
Fans accused the actor of completely misreading the ending, with one person stating, “Each time I see Timmy, I realize you can be really talented as an actor and have zero understanding of a material.”
Similarly, in November 2024, Chalamet was subjected to unexpected scrutiny because of his thoughts on parenthood in a Vogue cover story.
“Like, holy s**t. Oh my God. Bleak,” he shared, recalling his reaction to a person choosing a child-free life. The comment earned him the ire of netizens, with some describing it as “pretentious” and “icky.”
Timothée Chalamet hinted at why he is confident about Marty Supreme
Despite several fans finding his comments about Marty Supreme to be pompous, the movie has received stellar reviews in advance screenings. It currently holds a critics’ approval rating of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 91/100 score on Metacritic.
In December 2025, the Austin Film Critics Association presented Chalamet with the Best Actor award for his performance in the movie, alongside a Golden Globe nod in the Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category.
It’s no secret that Harry Potter has had a powerful effect on the entire generation of millennials. Millions of kids like you and me grew up reading books and watching films of the captivating Wizarding World, and all these characters and stories are surely ingrained into our memory. No wonder any time we hear something about the Boy Who Lived, the hair on our arms stands up and we’re taken on a blast to the past.
So, this time, we are looking at some of the most interesting, thought-provoking, and illuminating scenes that didn’t make it into the final cut of the Harry Potter theatrical releases. The real HP fans may have already spotted them in the uncut releases or extended versions, but if you’ve only experienced the magical world on the big screen, this may be something new!
And honestly, you don’t need to be a Potterhead to realize every single scene is pure gold, from Ginny grabbing Harry’s hand in Deathly Hallows to Dudley telling Harry he’s not a waste of space.
In a previous interview, Andy McCray, the founder and editor of the website Harry Potter Fan Zone, told us that such a passionate and enthusiastic following of the Harry Potter film series is due to the fact that it embedded itself in the zeitgeist of the 2000s.
For the millennial generation who grew up reading books, the Harry Potter world serves as a form of fantasy escapism in this increasingly hectic world. “An entire generation grew up reading the books and watching the films, and the characters and stories have transcended the page to became part of popular culture,” Andy said.
The story of The Boy Who Lived is still relevant today because it has entertainment and nostalgia factors to it. Andy explained that ”the HP movies deal with themes—love and hate, good versus evil, overcoming adversity and standing up against injustice, finding inner strength—which are particularly relevant in the modern world.” The themes are timeless and manage to touch viewers of virtually any generation.
#7 Snape’s Contemplative Scene (Half Blood Prince)
2007’s Ratatouille is one of those rare cartoons that stick with you for a long, long time. It’s gorgeous, heartwarming, and it’s all about food… in Paris!—what’s not to love? I’ll be honest, it’s one of the very few movies that I’ve seen twice at the cinema (don’t judge me, movie tickets are expensive).
Produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures, Ratatouille reminded us about the importance of putting love and sprinkling care into everything that we make and bake in the kitchen. However, there’s more than meets the eye to Ratatouille.
The animated film is full of small details and Easter eggs. Hidden. Or… hiding. Just like the ingredients in your pantry that you know you have but can’t find no matter what. We here at Bored Panda love showing you awesome secret movie tidbits, so we’ve collected the best ones from Ratatouille. While you’re scrolling down and upvoting your fave hidden details, I’ll be raiding my fridge for a gourmet snack.
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#1 For A Scene Where Linguini Is Wet From Jumping In The River, They Got A Member Of Crew (Kesten Migdal) To Jump In A Swimming Pool In A Chef’s Uniform To See Where The Uniform Would Normally Stick To On The Body When Wet
[Eats snack with gusto.] Where were we? Ah, yes! Easter eggs. MTV points out that not all of the hidden details are visual. For instance, when Remy the rat is in the sewer, you can hear the ‘Dead men tell no tales’ soundbite playing ever so faintly. It’s from the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ ride and it’s a friendly nod to Disney.
Meanwhile, the infamous and ever-present ‘Pizza Planet’ delivery truck also makes a cameo in Ratatouille. It’s been in practically every Pixar movie to date, having made its debut in Toy Story.
#4 After Cars (2006) Lost Out On The Oscar For Best Animated Movie To Happy Feet (2006), Which Utilized Motion Capture, Pixar Placed A “Quality Assurance Guarantee” At The End Of Their Next Movie Ratatouille (2007) To Remind The Academy They Animate Every Single Frame Of Their Movies Manually
#5 The First Thing Remy Does When He Enters The Kitchen Is Falls Into A Sink Full Of Soap And Water So He Doens’t Contaminate Any Food He Touches Later In The Scene
What’s more, a whole bunch of the Paris posters, food labels, as well as street and business signs are inside references. They’re named after people tied to the movie.
For example, ‘Lasseter Cabernet Sauvignon’ obviously refers to Executive Producer John Lasseter (I say ‘obviously,’ but you won’t get the reference unless you know the big shots by name). Similarly, ‘Bouchiba’ spaghetti refers to animator Bolhem Bouchiba. And Chateau-Jessup Pauillac Medoc is meant to point to production designer Harley Jessup.
#7 Anton Ego’s Typewriter Resembles A Skull And His Office A Coffin
The filmmakers of Ratatouille visited Paris to get all of their research done. During one of their excursions around the City of Lights, they walked underneath the Pont Alexandre III and this bridge was chosen for the scene where Remy and Linguini decide to become partners.
The team behind the movie also spent a lot of time enjoying brilliant food in some of the tastiest places in Paris. And we might be a tad jealous. So jealous that it’s about time for another snack.
#10 When Recording Lines For A Scene In Which Remy Hugs His Father Django, Patton Oswalt (Voice Of Remy) Actually Hugged Director Brad Bird To Achieve A Realistic Sound
#11 When Anton Tastes Remy’s Ratatouille, He’s Reminded Of His Mother’s Cooking. There’s A Few Hidden Details That Suggest Remy Grew Up In Anton’s Mother’s House, Learning To Cook By Watching Anton’s Mother
#14 When Flipping Through The Cookbook In The Sewer, One Of The Pages Remy Flips Through Shows The Jobs Of Each Person In Gusteau’s Kitchen, Revealing How Remy Knows This Later On
#16 When Linguini Is Chopping Leeks For The Soup You Can See A Green Smear On The Cutting Board That Actually Happens When Cutting Green Vegtables. Also His Bite Marks Are Still There From When Remy Bit Him A Couple Of Days Before
#18 In Cars 2 (2011), In Paris You Can See A Restaurant Called “Gastow’s”. This Is A Direct Reference To “Gusteau’s” Restaurant From Ratatouille (2007)
#20 Linguine Gives An “Inspirational Speech” Before Food Critic, Anton Ego, Comes To Critique The Restaurant’s Food. Pixar’s Attention To Detail Shows The Staff Visibility Exhausted By This Speech. That’s Because It Lasts Almost 20 Minutes During Dinner Service!
#22 There Is Much Debate Over When Ratatouille (2007) Is Supposed To Take Place, Many Saying The Late 60s Because Of The Cars, Phones And Tvs. However, The Note Linguine’s Mom Leaves Gusteau Reveals It’s Within A Few Years After 2004
#23 When Remy Explores The Apartment Building, He Sees A Woman Pointing A Gun At A Man. A Moment Later, They End Up Kissing. Later On, When Colette Is About To Mace Linguini, Remy Makes Him Go In For A Kiss
#30 There Is A Scene With The Health Inspector, Barging Into The Restaurant With A Picture Of His Face On The Wall. This Poster Is Present Throughout The Entire Movie Whenever This Section Of The Restaurant Is Shown
#32 Chef Skinner Is Angry At Linguini’s Success. But Skinner Is Also Getting Some Media Attention; There’s An Article About Him Jumping Into The Seine River
#33 In The Newspaper The Cooks Are Reading, There Is An Advertisement For The Same 3 Step Stool That The Chef Uses To Watch The Dining Room In Ratatouille
If you have your favorite movie of all time, nobody can ever convince you it’s crap. Because film preferences are totally subjective, they vary from one person to another, and if you and your crush can’t find common ground about it, it raises a red flag.
All seriousness aside, some movies are genuinely nothing more than a piece of crap and it doesn’t take another person to prove that to you. So when someone posted the question “What 100% ruins a movie for you every time?” the comments started to pour in on r/AskReddit and reached 20.8k in total.
The inquiry has surely resonated with 32.6k people who pressed upvote, and many felt relief that finally, we just laid it all out on the table. From flawed characters to self-explanatory dialogues that make viewers feel like they’re first graders, these things will spoil any top-notch movie. Film directors, take notes.
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#1
Having to constantly have my remote in hand to turn down the absurdly loud action scene, to then have to crank the volume for the next dialogue that is far too low.
In a world where every single opinion counts, getting your voice out about a movie you just watched may be quite hard. Luckily, we live in the world of reviews, and if it’s not you who writes one, then there will be film critics who do this job for us. Or you may simply go to Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregation website, that will tell you the truth about what it is that you’d like to watch.
According to Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, the award for the worst movie of all time goes to Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002). Critics’ synopsis describes it as “A startlingly inept film, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever offers overblown, wall-to-wall action without a hint of wit, coherence, style, or originality.”
The second worst entry is One Missed Call (2008), as it’s thought to be “one of the weakest entries in the J-horror remake sweepstakes,” completely undone by bland performances. The third worst is the 2012 movie A Thousand Words, which is described by critics as a “painful mess” with “bland jokes.” So yeah, not all movies are born to be perfect, but some of them are hardly watchable.
#4
“There’s no time… save yourself!” when there’s clearly ample amount of time for both characters to get to safety. made even worse by the fact that they usually waste a minute or more arguing about it, saying teary-eyed goodbyes, and making out before character 1 finally gets up and leaves.
Overused female tropes. The angry black woman, plus sized women always being loud and clumsy, and of course, the manic pixie dream girl. This isn’t some feminist soapbox, it’s just lazy and uninspired writing.
I can often tell when actors carry fake (well, empty) suitcases, and even when they carry empty to-go cups. There’s just something different in the way their bodies/muscles work then.
Jesus Christ, it’s a 50 million dollar movie, how hard would it be to fill the cup and toss a couple of bricks in the suitcase?
#8
Unnecessary sex scenes.
#9
Women wearing heels through out an action movie where they are running constantly and never once take them off.
When the premise for a major conflict in the movie is something that any sane person would have just said “oh no there’s a misunderstanding” and they all have a laugh and go on with their days… But instead it turns into some convoluted drama.
Fake snow and low temperatures that never matter. Like in Game of Thrones where nobody wore a goddamn hat on the wall. I was watching “his dark materials” the other day and I almost started to applaud when heroes actually got dressed for the cold weather.
When there is a timer and it takes longer to count down than the time that was called/shown. It drives me crazy.
Generic example, 50 seconds until a bomb explodes. Dialogue for 30 seconds. Timer is showing 30 seconds left. More dialogue for 40 seconds. Timer is at 5 seconds. Quick one-liner, bomb defused with one second to go.
When one character who’s an expert in some field stops to explain the most basic concepts to another character who’s also an expert on the same subject.
When there’s a 20+ year age gap between the leading actor and actress and it’s not addressed in the movie, especially when the movie pretends like they’re around the same age.
“We’re both experienced, leading scientists in our fields, even though I look like a grizzled war veteran and you’re fresh off the set of High School Musical.”
When it’s very obvious when someone isn’t actually having a conversation on the phone. They just say their lines without giving enough pause for the other person to respond. I also hate when you’re supposed to be looking at security footage but it’s clearly just a previous shot that’s had a filter put over it.
Just 10 seconds left before the bomb explodes. The hero is taking all the time in the world to kiss and hug his girlfriend a last goodbye before returning to deactivate the bomb..
I know it sounds cliche, but movie clichés. Like in hallmark films. Busy business woman doesn’t have time for love. Goes home for Christmas because something is wrong and could be her parents last Christmas. She meets a guy. Too busy to enjoy life. A parent dies. She realizes she needs to enjoy life more. Gets together with guy. You can just tell the way s**t is going to go because the movie is already cliché. Or in action films. Oh let me guess, X is behind that door isn’t he? Or he was. Look at that.
Teenagers who sound like screenwriters trying to sound cool.
Never in the history of humanity have two 15 year olds randomly recited 18th century poetry to each other on the day they met, and all those snarky remarks makes the kids sound insufferable and annoying a lot more than clever.
Also notice that somehow every clever 15 y.o. always listens to music that was huge when the screenwriter was growing up, never something that is… you know… listened to by 15 year olds… as if there was no good music around presently.
PS. Also the whole sarcastic genius with no social clues…yes we get it Dr. House was a hit 20 years ago, now can we get Cumberbatch to play any other freaking role?
You get some popcorn and press “play.” As the film is rolling, you suddenly realize that particular shot… you’ve seen it somewhere before. Call it déjà vu or a glitch in the matrix, but what if sometimes, it’s actually true?
This Twitter thread initiated by @THECOCODIARY compiled some of the most interesting examples of artistic references spotted in movies—from cult films that bear a striking resemblance to the surreal paintings of Rene Magritte, to Lars von Trier’s scene from Melancholia looking as if was taken from the iconic painting by John Everett Millais, Ophelia.
The thread has since gone viral with 133.9k likes and 36.8k retweets, and Bored Panda reached out to its author Coco, who said it started with a post she saw last year about The Lighthouse and its art references. “I started doing research to see if other movies had references too. And I found a lot, a lot of movies and references. I didn’t want to keep this little discovery for myself, so I created this thread.”
Read the full interview below, and don’t forget to upvote your favorite references shared in the thread.
The author of the viral thread, Coco, said that she couldn’t believe the thread would blow up as much and as fast as it did. “The thread even appeared on my dearest friend’s timeline. I guess it’s the power of Twitter to make everything viral!”
When asked whether Coco thinks the references were coincidental or deliberate, she said that the ones inspired by René Magritte’s and Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings were probably done on purpose. “Throughout my research, I realized how much René Magritte inspired the cinema industry. I think also that some of them are simply coincidental, and aren’t they fascinating?”
Coco’s favorite references are the ones from The Truman Show and The Fifth Element. “It’s just genius to choose Architecture au clair de lune by René Magritte for this scene with Jim Carrey going up the stairs.” Moreover, “Jean-Paul Gaultier for his spring/summer 1998 collection was fully inspired by Frida Kahlo’s unique style. And I’m convinced that he was inspired by her for Leeloo’s (Milla Jovovich’s character) costume.”
Artificial intelligence has become very easy to access to the public, which has made it very popular. Artists all over are combining their skills and AI to create all kinds of edits. Even most apps have filters that use AI to make you look older, younger, or even a different gender.
This San Francisco-based graphics artist uses this new technology to see how famous paintings and cartoon characters would look if they were realistic, and how artificial intelligence recreates historical figures from paintings or portraits on money bills.
On his website, Nathan says: “I am a technical director, creative technologist, visual effects supervisor, and motion graphics artist with over a decade of experience. Currently exploring the intersection of art and AI.”
Nathan Shipley answered some questions for us. He told us what inspired him to create these edits: “On one side, I love to create impossible images and explore new technology. I’ve got a background in animation and visual effects and once I saw what is possible using AI and machine learning tools, I realized there are so many things that could be done with them that would otherwise be impossible. Even some things that may be technically possible with VFX and CG could still be very time-consuming or expensive, whereas AI enables entirely new possibilities.
On the other side, it’s fascinating to explore how an AI model built on a particular dataset with a particular framework can ‘see’ the world and then transform images. The AI ‘knows’ only what it has already seen and filters the world through this lens. Each little tweak to the dataset, the training parameters, the model, and the input imagery all have the possibility to change the output. This is a space to explore how artificial neural networks interpret the world in a way that can be similar to our own minds. I’m not saying that an image I created is what Mona Lisa actually looked like, but it is how the machine sees her based on this particular arrangement of variables. That, to me, is fascinating.
I also want to add that these are definitely just experiments and that there are some pretty obvious limitations of the AI and the datasets that it’s trained on. Frida loses her unibrow, Miles’ hair gets mangled, Lil Miquela’s freckles disappear, hats turn to hair, and Ben Franklin even gets an earring! These are just some examples of how this particular combination of variables recreates a face that comes with a lot of randomness and inconsistencies. Keeping diversity in AI is an area of active research.”
#2 Miles Morales From Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
“I have always loved to draw, take photos, and paint. I’ve also always had a computer around since I was in elementary school using a 286 with MS-DOS and no hard drive. The combination of traditional art and technology has been a natural step for me and led to my career in VFX and animation.
My current interest in exploring face manipulation and generative art using AI and machine learning started with a project for the Salvador Dali museum called Dali Lives in 2018. I used early deepfake code to bring Dali back to the museum to talk to visitors about his art. From here, I moved into working with GANs and realized how powerful neural networks can be for image processing and generation! For me, creating art is both an expression of curiosity and an act of exploration through process.”
“My favorite part about creating art is the process of actually making it; the journey and all the exploration that goes with it. I love having a problem and no idea how I’m going to solve it, putting my headphones on, losing track of time, and just trying things until it works.
It’s great to see a finished image, but it’s even more exciting to try new code, use code in ways it wasn’t meant to be, combine different tools together, and create entirely new art through new processes.”
Nathan has a 4-year-old son and he loves to explore the world with him: “We fish, go to the beach, paint, draw, read, play baseball, and pretend. Otherwise, I love running—it calms me down and focuses my mind.”
The artist tells us more about himself: “I’m just a guy from the Midwest of the United States. I grew up in Indiana, went to Indiana University, and then worked doing animation for TV at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Eventually, I was ready to leave Indiana and go to California.
I was very fortunate to first have the opportunity to travel around the world for a year with no plan before moving to San Francisco. I flew to Lima, Peru on a one-way ticket and spent the next 12 months staying in a handful of cities in South America, Eastern Europe, Turkey, India, and Thailand. If I got to a place I liked, I got an apartment and stayed for a month.
Traveling, being curious about the world, and meeting many different people goes quite well with creating art and just living life in general.
I did eventually land in San Francisco, where I’ve spent the last 10 years working on animation, VFX, and creative technology projects at Google, Intel, and currently the ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.”
Nathan explains how he creates these edits: “It’s a very iterative and explorative process. In the most simple terms, a face is used as input for the software and the software generates new faces based on the input. I have examples where I am creating ‘real’ versions of painted or cartoon people and also cartoon versions of real people.
More specifically, to create real people, the central part of the process uses machine learning to find a human who has a similar shape to the faces in an AI network created by Nvidia. This network is created with a GAN (a kind of machine learning framework, this GAN is called StyleGAN) and trained on a dataset of 70,000 human faces (called FFHQ). The AI learns how to generalize what a human face looks like and can then generate new human faces that don’t actually exist but look very realistic.
Because the network is trained on images of real people, it’s very good at creating more real people, even when you give it an input that is just a drawing or painting.
I have other examples using the same tool (StyleGAN) to create new images based on 400-year-old woodcuts of Aesop’s Fables illustrations, Beeple’s library of everydays, and even custom datasets to make music videos for musicians like Qrion and Hiatus. A lot of these are on my site here.”
“I have a core set of tools that I use from my background in animation and VFX (Photoshop, After Effects, C4D, Maya, Nuke) but the most interesting tools usually come from Github repos released by academics and machine learning researchers. These are often run by editing Python code on a Linux machine which controls a machine learning library like Tensorflow or PyTorch.
In fact, almost everything about these face images comes directly as output from the Python code. I’ve been particularly interested in exploring Nvidia’s StyleGAN and a StyleGAN encoder called pixel2style2pixel.”
Nathan says that the actual images take minutes to create; however, he had to go a long way to learn everything: “All of the learning and background I needed to get to this point has been a couple years of exploration and trial and error. I even attended a conference at MIT called GANocracy back in 2019.
I’ve built an art player, for example, that can generate completely new, never-ending, totally novel art in real time. Frames are made on the fly! However, training the model and writing the code for the player was weeks of work and processing time.”
The artist shared how he chooses which people or characters to recreate: “I pick characters that I love (Miguel from Coco, for example) or historic people that we don’t actually have photographs of. Some faces don’t work as well as others, but it’s really exciting when there is a compelling result! A lot of this is trial and error and me just publicly sharing the tests that I make as I go.
For example, I would love to see what Mona Lisa might look like and now I’ve got a realistic face that might be like her. I’m not saying that it is Mona Lisa, but it’s a possibility.
When people see my edits, they say everything from ‘amazing!’ to ‘creepy!’ to ‘that looks like my cousin!’ They seem to be getting a good amount of attention, so at the very least, they’re interesting!”
“Overall, I think the space of generative and AI art is a fascinating and very deep well to explore. I’d certainly encourage readers that are interested to try it out! The technical hurdles can seem daunting, but with a little bit of background, you can really Google your way through a lot of this.
It’s also the sort of thing where academics and researchers present these technologies in a very academic or complicated-sounding way. Understanding a paper called ‘A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks’ can seem daunting. However, seeing imagery created by artists with the same technology can be very inspiring!
I’d highly encourage readers to check out the work of Memo Akten, Scott Eaton, Mario Klingemann, Refik Anandol, Helena Sarin, and Ben Snell to name just a few. These are the artists that have been foundational in my own interest in exploring AI and machine learning.”
What do you think of these edits? Tell us in the comments and vote for your favorite ones! Don’t forget to go show some love to the artist on his social media accounts.
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