Higgsfield and the AI Film That Rents Celebrity Faces

After the controversy sparked by Hell Grind, a film made entirely with artificial intelligence, Higgsfield is trying to adjust its approach. In its new project, Cully Hill Boys, human beings return, but only in the form of faces, voices, and contracts.

The 110-minute feature film uses characters modeled on streamer N3on, UFC champion Israel Adesanya, actor and fighter Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and sports influencer Matt Kiatipis. Higgsfield presents it as the first AI-generated film in which celebrities’ likenesses are used through legal agreements and mutually agreed compensation.

Cully Hill Boys, the AI film with licensed avatars

Directed by Aitore Zholdaskali, who previously made Hell Grind, the film is based on a screenplay by Tim Planagan acquired through Black List, the platform that allows writers to submit their work to evaluators and producers.

Higgsfield points out that Cully Hill Boys may not necessarily be distributed as a conventional theatrical film. The project is primarily intended to showcase the capabilities of Cinema Studio, the platform through which the company hopes to enter Hollywood production workflows. Rather than a film made for audiences, then, it is a technical demonstration running for almost two hours.

The experiment nevertheless addresses two central issues in the AI debate: paying creators and the use of personal identities. The screenplay was purchased, while the streamers, athletes, and influencers authorized the digital reproduction of their likenesses. Higgsfield wants to demonstrate that generative filmmaking can be built without unlawfully copying faces and stories, instead turning them into licensed assets.

It is a step forward compared with the legal and ethical gray area in which many companies have developed their models, but it also opens up a new market: celebrities who do not actually participate in a film while still selling the right to appear in it.

The screenplay Hollywood rejected

Tim Planagan had been working for years on Cully Hill Boys, a story set in East London and centered on a criminal group that, according to the writer, had never been portrayed on screen in quite that way. Different versions of the screenplay had also been refined through feedback received on the Black List.

Several traditional producers had shown interest in the project, offering compensation close to Writers Guild of America rates, even though Planagan was not a union member. In return, however, they wanted substantial changes, including moving the setting from London to the United States. The screenwriter refused, believing those demands would have stripped the story of its identity.

About two months before the announcement, Higgsfield entered the picture. The company offered him an agreement limited to AI-produced adaptations and, according to Planagan, compensation comparable to WGA standards. At the time of the interview, the writer had not yet seen the finished film, but said he was pleased that his screenplay had been chosen to showcase the platform’s capabilities.

His position differs considerably from the concerns expressed by the Writers Guild through its #AINeedsHumans campaign, created to emphasize that generative systems depend on the work of writers and other creatives. Planagan, who does not use AI to write, said he would nevertheless be willing to license another screenplay for a similar project. What matters most to him is having seen the value of his story recognized without being forced to change its setting or identity.

Turning identity into a reproducible asset

The case of N3on, the online name of 21-year-old Mikyle Rafiq, makes the advantage offered to performers particularly clear. Creating his avatar reportedly required only a few photographs and around two minutes of voice recording.

The streamer explained that taking part in a traditional film would be incompatible with his daily livestreaming schedule. Showing up on set every morning, attending rehearsals, and committing to a production lasting several weeks would prevent him from continuing his online work. With AI, however, he can appear in the film without interrupting his streams.

Rafiq described the compensation he received as quite good considering the amount of work involved. His participation also gives Higgsfield access to an audience of 1.1 million subscribers on YouTube and roughly 700,000 users on Kick. N3on has already promised to promote the film during his livestreams and has not ruled out licensing his avatar again.

For celebrities, this means earning new income without taking part in filming. For studios, it means reducing costs, production times, and logistical problems. For audiences, it will mean getting used to films in which actors, athletes, and influencers appear together without ever having met and, perhaps, without even having read the entire screenplay.

Ultimately, this new model offered to Hollywood through Cinema Studio also asks human beings to take part in their own replacement, licensing their faces and voices in exchange for compensation. And some already seem to consider it a good deal.