Hunting ‘Artificial Humans’ in Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Wifelike’ Official Trailer
by Alex Billington
July 19, 2022
Source: YouTube
“William told me how you people steal companions, you reprogram them to do awful things.” SP Media has revealed a trailer for an indie sci-fi thriller titled Wifelike (or WifeLike) – a strange title for a film with this plot. It’s set in a future where a detective hunts down criminals who trade artificial humans on the black market. (Sounds a lot like Blade Runner already…) When the artificial human Meredith gets assigned as a companion to grieving widower William, it’s designed to behave like his late wife. However, in the fight to end A.I. exploitation and their manipulation, an underground organization attempts to sabotage Meredith’s programming, in an attempt to disrupt the detective’s work. Jonathan Rhys Meyers co-stars with Elena Kampouris, who plays Meredith. The cast also includes C.J. Perry, Doron Bell, Agam Darshi, Caitlin Stryker, and Sara Sampaio. Unforutntely this doesn’t look that great, with some bad performances and a lack of any distinct style. Plus it seems to be ripping off other sci-fi and mashing up a bunch of A.I. concepts.
Here’s the first official trailer (+ poster) for James Bird’s Wifelike, direct from YouTube:
A grieving detective in the near future (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) hunts down criminals who trade artificial humans on the black market. In the fight to end AI exploitation, an underground resistance attempts to infiltrate him by sabotaging the programming of the artificial human assigned as his companion (Elena Kampouris) to behave like his late wife. She begins to question her reality as memories of a past life begin to surface in a world where nothing is as it seems. Wifelike is written and directed by Indigenous American filmmaker James Bird, director of the films Eat Spirit Eat, Honeyglue, We Are Boats, and The Circuit: Star Crew previously. It’s produced by Steven Paul and Scott Karol, executive produced by Christine Holder and Mark Holder. This hasn’t premiered at any film fests or elsewhere, as far as we know. SP Media Group debuts Bird’s Wifelike in select US theaters + on VOD starting August 12th, 2022 coming up this summer.