The actress accused the director James Cameron of stealing her likeness to create the character of “Avatar” in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday in California – a lawsuit that reflects the main fear among Hollywood actors in the age of artificial intelligence: losing control of their face.
The actress, Q’orianka Kilcher, also sued Disney, which controls the multibillion-dollar “Avatar” franchise, which began in 2009.
“In the age of AI, our similarities are no longer safe,” Ms. Kilcher, 36, said in an interview. “Although what happened to me is personal, it is also a warning that if we don’t take action now, this kind of thing will become a standard, this case is about the future of a person.”
The case involves Neytiri, the digitally created, green-skinned warrior princess in three of Mr. Cameron “Avatar”. According to the complaint, Mr. Cameron used a photograph of Ms Kilcher as a child – without her knowledge – as the basis for Neytiri, incorporating her features “directly into his production art” and digital production pipeline.
“Neytiri’s lips, chin, jaw and overall mouth shape” in the trilogy “are by Q’orianka Kilcher,” the complaint said. This was no passing inspiration or vague worship; it was a realistic transplant of the facial structure of a real teenager.
In 2010, Ms Kilcher, who is also an Aboriginal rights activist, met Mr Cameron by chance at a charity event in Hollywood, where she told him she was the “primary inspiration” for Neytiri’s appearance, according to the complaint. “He did not take this to mean that his real face was the same,” the complaint said.
Ms Kilcher is suing now, the complaint said, because of an interview Mr Cameron gave to French media in 2024. In the interview, Mr. Cameron mentions Ms. Kilcher and “points to a picture of Neytiri and says bluntly: ‘This is actually her face down,'” the complaint states. The interview came to him a year later.
“For the first time in a public forum, Cameron clearly admitted the full truth about Neytiri’s design,” according to the complaint, which was filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles. “One of Hollywood’s most powerful filmmakers exploited an Aboriginal girl’s biometrics and her culture to make a groundbreaking film, without credit or compensation to her.”
Mr Cameron’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. Disney was not immediately available for comment.
Ms. Kilcher’s action is the latest in a large number of legal attacks on “Avatar” over the years – almost all of which have been settled by the courts in Mr. Cameron, including five separate lawsuits accusing him of copyright infringement or plagiarism. A sixth violation case is ongoing and was extended last month.
In part, Mrs. Kilcher is suing under California’s decades-old “civil rights” law, which allows people to bring claims against the unauthorized use of their identities. It is a complex area of law that has ushered in an era of artificial intelligence, an emerging technology that allows anyone with an internet connection to easily create images that replicate existing art, images and human likenesses.
In general, copyright laws (about 25 states have one) balance First Amendment protections by distinguishing between commercial exploitation (uses such as selling a product) and expressive works (such as news, art, parody). But “there’s not always a bright line,” said Jennifer E. Rothman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School who is considered a leading authority on privacy law.
The break of Ms. Kilcher came to Hollywood in 2005 when, at the age of 14, she was cast as Pocahontas in Terrence Malick’s “The New World”. He has acted in movies like “Dog” and TV shows like “Yellowstone,” and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Ms. Kilcher is asking for damages that include “all profits” generated by the unauthorized use, including from “Avatar” ticket sales; The three “Avatar” movies collected 1.8 billion dollars at the North American box office alone.
“The damages we are asking for are consistent with exploitation,” said Arnold P. Peter, one of Ms.’s lawyers. Kilcher, in conversation.
