Popular deepfake YouTuber Shamook is now an official part of Lucasfilm’s special effects branch Industrial Light and Magic. Originally announced in the comments section of one of his videos earlier this month and later confirmed by IndieWire, Shamook landed a job with the company thanks to his deepfake video that improved on The Mandalorian’s cameo of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker.
“Industrial Light and Magic is always on the lookout for talented artists and have in fact hired the artist that goes by the online persona ‘Shamook,'” a Lucasfilm representative said in a statement. “Over the past several years ILM has been investing in both machine learning and A.I. as a means to produce compelling visual effects work and it’s been terrific to see momentum building in this space as the technology advances.”
Shamook’s Mandalorian video was released in December 2020 and took him four days to produce. Taking the scene that was criticized by Star Wars fans, Shamook’s video quickly gained attention for adding more nuanced and subtle features to the young Skywalker. At the time of writing, the video has over 2.1 million views.