Maggie Gyllenhaal Says She Tried Using AI to Turn Dakota Johnson Into Marilyn Monroe for Short ‘Flesh Impact’ — Then Scrapped It: ‘Fundamentally Did Not Work’

By Elsa Keslassy

Elsa Keslassy

International Correspondent

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Venice jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that she experimented with artificial intelligence to transform Dakota Johnson into Marilyn Monroe for her short film “Flesh Impact” which plays on the Lido. But she ended up scrapping it because she felt that it stripped Johnson’s performance of the very humanity that made it compelling.

Speaking at the symposium alongside composer Alexandre Desplat, filmmakers Lee Daniels and Shannon Murphy, producer Lorenzo Mieli and artist Marc Quinn, Gyllenhaal said the short portrays a 100-year-old Marilyn Monroe with flashbacks to Marilyn Monroe when she’s in her 30s which Johnson plays.

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