Hailee Steinfeld’s Immersive ‘Asteroid’ Producers Say ‘Synthetic Actors’ Can’t Replace Real Ones: ‘Why Do That?’

While the main short film is directed by Liman, "Asteroid" gives viewers chances to interact both before and after the movie. There's a chat before the film where viewers can talk with a version of Metcalf, played by himself, created using Gemini AI. After the movie, viewers can interact again with the NFL player to figure out what went wrong during the space journey.

Zepp talked with TheWrap's Roger Cheng and "Asteroid" creator and 30 Ninjas partner Jed Weintrob about the experience and AI filmmaking as a whole, before the film's launch when the Samsung XR headset comes out in October.

"We go where the consumer wants to be, but we don't give up our key creatives' vision to get there," Weintrob said about using immersive tech in filmmaking.

 "In this case, it wasn't about making an interactive film, which we've done before. We were integrating AI into our workflow and our experiences. We believe the future will be led by visionaries, storytellers, and creatives who tell their stories from their own perspectives. These new technologies are exciting ways for audiences to engage more deeply, to personalize and customize their experience."

Steinfeld and Metcalf star in "Asteroid" with Ron Perlman, Rhenzy Feliz, Leon Mandel, and Freida Pinto.

 Zepp and Weintrob both stressed the importance of starting with a strong, creator-driven idea from Liman and making sure the tech used in the experience added value, not just for the sake of using technology.

"What we always aim for in the whole experience is authenticity," Zepp said.

 "You want to feel like it's a really good movie, and then the conversation adds real value. If it feels forced or doesn't feel genuine to DK and how he might respond to a question with context, it won't work."