Hollywood Greats Return as AI Narrators in Audiobook App

Ever wanted Sir Laurence Olivier to read aloud your emails? Or Judy Garland to narrate the original Wizard of Oz book? AI voice cloning company ElevenLabs has secured the rights to some of Hollywood’s biggest deceased stars’ voices to narrate audiobooks and content.

ElevenLabs’ recently released Reader app lets users listen to text read by AI voices. The company revealed it is adding the voices of Hollywood greats to the app, with users able to pick from their favorite dead celebrities to read their content.

Actors the startup has secured the rights to include “Smokey and the Bandit” star Burt Reynolds, James Dean, best known for Rebel Without a Cause, Judy Garland and Sir Laurence Olivier.

ElevenLabs secured the exclusive rights to their voices through deals with the actors’ estates.

The deceased actor's voices are only available through the Reader app and not ElevenLabs’ wider Voice Library platform.

The ElevenLabs Reader App is free to use, with users able to choose from an array of AI voices to narrate uploaded content, including articles, PDFs and newsletters. It is currently only available on iOS.

"It's exciting to see our mother's voice available to the countless millions of people who love her,” said Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland’s daughter and representative of the Garland Estate. “Through the spectacular new technology offered by ElevenLabs, our family believes that this will bring new fans to Mama and be exciting to those who already cherish the unparalleled legacy that Mama gave and continues to give to the world.”

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Actors posthumously appearing in media thanks to technology isn’t a novel concept. Peter Cushing was “re-animated” to appear in 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.”

However, with the rise of generative AI, the return of Hollywood's past is becoming more common. AI technologies were used to bring back Harold Ramis for "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," and to digitally de-age Mark Hamill for his appearances as Luke Skywalker in "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett.”

James Dean’s inclusion on the ElevenLabs app is the second attempt by his estate to use his likeness for new media projects. Dean, who died in 1955, was “cast” in a Vietnam War movie called “Finding Jack” in 2019 though the film was later canceled.

Not all AI resurrections have gone smoothly, however.

The likeness of the late comedian George Carlin for an AI-generated comedy special resulted in a lawsuit, while the rapper Drake was subject to similar legal threats over his use of an AI-generated version of Tupac Shakur.

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ElevenLabs’ technology isn’t without controversy either. Its platform was used to create the audio for fake phone calls from President Biden telling them to stay home during the state New Hampshire primary.

Despite prior issues, Dustin Blank, ElevenLabs’ head of partnerships, stated that the company respects the legacies of the deceased actors it is bringing back to life.

“Judy Garland, James Dean, Burt Reynolds and Sir Laurence Olivier are some of the most celebrated actors in history,” Blank said. “Adding them to our growing list of narrators marks a major step forward in our mission of making content accessible in any language and voice.”

Tina Xavie, the chief marketing officer of CMG worldwide, which manages the estates of Hollywood stars, said ElevenLabs was thoughtful in its approach to using the actors’ likenesses.

“We are excited by the new opportunities they are providing our clients and look forward to more to come,” said Xavie.