AI actress Tilly Norwood has named Tom Holland and Olivia Colman as two performers she would like to work with — but with a distinctly digital condition.
Appearing at the Zurich Film Festival’s Summit, Norwood said she would collaborate with the pair “but only if it were their digital twins joining me in an AI production.”
The onstage exchange came one year after Particle 6 founder Eline van der Velden unveiled Norwood at the same event. Returning to discuss the intense reaction that followed, the creator said she could not have anticipated the scale of the controversy in her “wildest dreams.”
“But I had programmed her to become the most famous AI actress, so I don’t know how she did it, but she did, which is slightly scary,” van der Velden said.
Tilly Norwood addresses the backlash
Following an HDMI cable problem involving what van der Velden jokingly called “traditional technology,” Norwood was introduced onstage and took questions from the moderator and audience.
The AI actress characterized the uproar around her arrival as “quite an introduction,” adding: “My name kind of went everywhere. It’s funny. Nobody hated me particularly; they just sort of hated the future.”
Norwood also gave a cautious answer when asked whether she had met with U.S. agents about representation. She said the entertainment industry was still determining how to approach AI and described her work as occupying a different space from that of a conventional Hollywood client.
“It’s not quite like having a traditional agent in Hollywood just yet,” Norwood said. “I mostly work on AI films, so it’s a bit of a different lane.”
Van der Velden said Particle 6 had considered securing an agent for Norwood but concluded that it did not currently need one. According to the founder, the company receives numerous offers but has rejected projects that would place Norwood in a traditional film because that is not what the character was created for.
At the same time, van der Velden said she was saddened by the possibility that the traditional entertainment business could be excluded from emerging technology and consequently fall behind.
The creator also revisited Norwood’s malfunction during a live television conversation with Piers Morgan, when the AI actress unexpectedly began speaking Cantonese. Van der Velden said Norwood was designed as a humorous interface to draw attention to the current state of the technology rather than something to be taken too seriously.
She said she wants the character to prompt discussions about China as a partner, the need for regulation and the guardrails that should surround AI.
Particle 6 expands after the controversy
Van der Velden described the past year as a mixture of negative attention and business growth. She said Particle 6 has expanded eight-fold and now operates four departments, with work spanning AI advertising, film and television, co-productions, original commissions and consultancy. The company also introduces AI workflows into other studios and production companies.
She said Norwood’s purpose was to make the entertainment sector engage directly with the arrival of AI. Calling the character a “physicist actress,” van der Velden explained that she wanted to help bridge the communication gap between technology and entertainment.
Rather than publish a white paper about developments in AI, she chose to create something intended to capture attention and encourage action, with the aim of helping the creative industry stay ahead of changes driven by the technology sector.
Van der Velden also said the backlash prompted entertainment figures to contact Particle 6 privately. She described the company as signing “tons and tons of NDAs,” claiming that people were interested but feared facing the same public criticism. Particle 6, she said, had already absorbed that reaction.
What Happens Next?
Particle 6 is now developing “Storm Dogs,” an original family adventure comedy-drama conceived by van der Velden. Set in an English village during a devastating storm, the project will combine live-action performances with photorealistic animated characters.
Human parts are planned to be filmed conventionally, while the dogs and toddler will be created through a combination of live-action performance, traditional filmmaking methods and emerging AI tools.
“Stuart Little” and “The Lion King” filmmaker Rob Minkoff has joined the AI film as an executive producer. He will work with van der Velden and the Particle 6 team over the coming months to develop its story, characters and screenplay before production. Van der Velden said Minkoff was among the first people to contact her after Norwood’s announcement.
According to van der Velden, the technology being used for “Storm Dogs” can animate mouths and bring greater expression to the animal characters. She said AI should support storytelling and the creative work rather than be used without that purpose.
The movie remains in early development, with production targeted for 2027. Distribution has not yet been announced.