Zhao Wei’s Face Removed by AI in “As Long As We Are Together”

Although Vicky Zhao Wei (趙薇)  filmed television series As Long As We Are Together <學區房> in 2020, the drama was withheld from broadcast for three years. However, due to mysterious circumstances, Vicky was blacklisted and removed from Chinese streaming platforms in 2021.

Investors decided the best option was to remove Zhao Wei’s face from the drama and Chinese actress Jiang Xin (蔣欣) re-filmed some key scenes opposite costar Qin Hao (秦昊). The series premiered under new Chinese title Xiaoman’s Life <小滿生活>.

To save time and costs, AI was used in post-production to remove Zhao Wei’s face with Jiang Xin’s in scenes that were not reshot. Although their faces were swapped, the body shape mismatch threw viewers off. Additionally, some background appearances could not be substituted by AI. Sharp-eyed netizens were able to pick out scenes where Zhao Wei still appears.

The drama’s rough editing generated a lot of debate and discussion online as a result.  While fans were delighted to see small snippets of Zhao Wei, others criticized the series for its poor decision to utilize AI lackadaisically.

Source: [1]

This article is written by Huynh for JayneStars.com.