Thierry Ardisson signs Monday May 2 his return to the small screen and to public service with the show Hotel of time. In this A real television UFO, the 73-year-old host brings dead stars back to life thanks to new technologies, for the duration of a documentary interview. Kick off this Monday, May 2 in the first part of the evening (9:05 p.m.) on France 3, with a first part dedicated to the singer Dalida.
The concept of this program co-produced with Third Eye (Mediawan), which Ardisson has been carrying for three years: to tell the story in the form of an interview of deceased celebrities, resurrected at the peak of their notoriety, using the latest technological prowess.
In addition to the program on Dalida, the broadcast of two other issues, devoted to Coluche and Jean Gabin, is announced for the coming months on France 3. Each star will converse with Thierry Ardisson, himself rejuvenated, in the luxurious hotel of timeinstalled for the occasion in the Parisian palace The hotel Meurice.
“It’s a real documentary told in the first person with an interviewer who gives birth to the character“Based on archives, explains Nicolas Daniel, director of magazines for France Télévisions.
So zero”hellish questions” or related to current events, the idea being to explore the many facets of popular stars, such as Jean Gabin’s past as a resistance fighter, his love affair with Marlène Dietrich or his peasant streak.
The show raises multiple ethical questions about making the dead speak by resorting to “deepfake“, a controversial artificial intelligence technology that allows images to be faked, for example by giving actors the faces of missing personalities, and to clone voices.
“I asked their opinion to the heirs“even if, legally,”there is no image rights for the dead“, explains Thierry Ardisson. “It’s so intimate that we can’t impose that on them“, he adds. Work “hand in hand with them“allowed”to get a lot of info that I might not have gotten” only.
The other ethical safeguard of the show is that all the comments made by the personalities “were actually spoken or written“, guarantees the host, who has therefore built his interviews on the basis of existing answers, found at the cost of a “big job” documentary collection.
As to “deepfake“, “it’s a tool: what’s good or bad is how you use it“, slice Ardisson, who claims to employ it”in a positive and cultural way“.
However, it took him many months to find a partner capable of exploiting this technology over a long period, ie 90 minutes of transmission. The French studio Mac Guff has developed for the occasion “a single tool“very high resolution”at compatible costs“with the budget of the show, underlines Rodolphe Chabrier, president of this big name in 3D animation and special effects.