In a fake Roman city, built out of wood and scaffolding at Fort Ricasoli, extras swung prop swords and shot off imaginary arrows while a camera crew captured every moment.

Yet, in between takes, extras who had signed up to take part in the Gladiator sequel were pulled aside by production staff and asked to step into a camera-filled booth where their likeness was scanned.

“It didn’t really feel like we could say no,” one extra said who, months later, has now begun to worry that their likeness will be used in future productions without their knowledge and consent.

“If they do have your face, you have no idea if it’s going to be put in a trailer or a film or a video,” another extra said.

In June, filming for Ridley Scott’s anticipated sequel to Gladiator began at Fort Ricasoli.

Pulling members out of the crowd

With hundreds of extras on set, production staff began to pull members out of the crowd.

“They didn’t explain why they were doing this, we thought they were taking us to do another scene,” one extra told Times of Malta under the condition of anonymity, claiming that staff took several extras without asking if they wanted to be scanned.

While many recalled the same experience, others noted that production staff had asked groups of extras if they would like to be scanned, prompting them to raise their hands willingly.

Some claimed that this happened days before the production was shut down due to a Hollywood actors’ strike, while others said that scans were taking place during the production’s early days.

Part of the strike is focused on the actors’ union’s worries about AI, which may pose a threat to their jobs in the future as the technology can take scans and reproduce performances from scratch.

On their way to the scan, staff took each group, which held less than 10 extras, to make-up and wardrobe. As they waited, make-up artists explained to the group that they would be scanned.

Offering no further explanation, extras were taken to the scanning booth where production staff spoke to each of them individually just before they entered.

‘We will use this to fill in gaps in the crowd’

“Staff told us: ‘We will use this to fill in gaps in the crowd,’” one extra claimed, but outside of a technical explanation of how to appropriately stand for the scan, no explanation on their rights was given.

“They told me they were going to use it for the crowds in the Colosseum,” another said.

“It didn’t really feel like we could say no,” they said, claiming that the matter felt rushed which gave them little time to think or ask questions.

After they were scanned, extras were either taken back to set to continue shooting or were taken back to their holding tent to wait for transportation home as the day wrapped up.

Since then, extras said they have been paid for their performance but have been given no further information on the scanning, fuelling worries about their future career in film.

“If there is another production in Malta and they ask me to take a scan, I will say no,” an extra said.

‘Hollywood taking advantage’

However, the majority of extras said their worries began after seeing a social media post claiming that scans may threaten their future careers.

On September 1, aspiring filmmaker and crew member Matthew Maggi posted to a private film and TV group on Facebook, asking extras from the Gladiator sequel who have been scanned to come forward.

In the post, Maggi claimed that scanned extras are at risk of seeing no future jobs in Hollywood as “the studios already own their likeness/identity”.

Maggi, who helped found the Alliance for Practitioners, Artists and Crew for Hollywood Abroad, expanded on the stance that echoes what many SAG (Screen Actors Guild) actors are currently protesting against.

“Malta is one of many examples… which Hollywood is taking advantage of. It is using it as a backyard,” he said, as Maltese extras are not unionised, which may give studios the opportunity to abuse the system.

When local actors are used as scans, if those scans can be used in future productions globally, actors in every country will see less work as studios may attempt to cut costs by using the scanned models instead of filming with extras on set, he said.

“Less extras means less days, smaller setups, less crew, and less work for everyone',” Maggi continued, emphasising that the ripple effect will bleed into all production professions.

Questions have been sent to Latina Pictures, a local studio producing the Gladiator sequel. Times of Malta has also spoken to representatives of Paramount Global, the parent company of Paramount Pictures which is producing the film.

In documents seen by Times of Malta, extras signed a release form that gives consent to Latina Pictures for the “reproduction, exhibition, transmission, broadcast and exploitation” of the project and their image.

The form also gave producers permission to “record,” “photograph,” “reproduce” and “simulate” the extra’s name, voice and picture “in any manner whatsoever”.

However, the document does not sign away an actor’s likeness or identity for future projects.

The issue remains that Maltese actors are not unionised, leaving them wide open to abuse from studios with no support to stop productions from using their likenesses in the future, Maggi claimed.

Multiplying extras digitally has been used in productions in the past, such as Game of Thrones and Ted Lasso, making cities and stadiums look packed without bringing thousands of extras to set

When scanning extras, the lack of an explanation production staff give is one example of how studios are taking advantage of local talents, he said.

“They make it seem it is part of the normal process. It is becoming part of the process, but they make it hard for you to say no as they normalise it and make you seem difficult if you say no,” he said.

Multiplying extras digitally has been used in productions in the past, such as Game of Thrones and Ted Lasso, making cities and stadiums look packed without bringing thousands of extras to set.

However, multiplying crowds in this way is most commonly done using a visual effect in post-production called crowd tiling, and does not require scanning of individuals.  

Maggi emphasised that it was not common practice in Malta pre-COVID to scan extras, as large productions such as Assassin’s Creed saw no extras being scanned.

Under Maggi’s post, several people noted that scans have been taken previously on Maltese shoots, namely on Napoleon – a film directed by Ridley Scott who is also leading the Gladiator sequel – and The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which was partly filmed in Malta.