A joint strike by both the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Writers Guild (WGA) has effectively shut down Hollywood — with the unions citing in no small part fears over how the use of AI by studios may undermine their professions. Ever out of the spotlight, background actors have now stepped up to voice similar concerns of their own, bringing attention to how some of them have been made to have their bodies digitized for indefinite use, with little to no warning or input. One Alexandria Rubalcaba recalls how she, and dozens of other background actors, were pulled aside one-by-one and led into a trailer to be scanned by a rig of multiple cameras for fifteen minutes while working on the Marvel show “WandaVision.” The result: a comprehensive digital avatar of themselves. “Have your hands out,” Rubalcaba recalled being told, in an interview with NPR. “Have your hands in. Look this way. Look that way. Let us see your scared face. Let us see your surprised face.” Alarmingly, Rubalcaba alleges that she and others were never told how or when their 3D likenesses would be used. In fact, the only thing she’s sure of is that she wouldn’t get paid for it, even though she says she never gave permission in the first place. For roughly the past twenty years, Hollywood projects have made use of techniques such as crowd tiling to duplicate a few actors to create enormous group scenes. Computer simulations are often used in tandem —…Background Actor Describes When Marvel Made Her Go to a Strange Trailer to Be Scanned