If you’ve been galavanting around the internet this past week, you may stumbled upon an epic movie trailer featuring a former UFC champion. But, is Conor McGregor starring in a live-action film called Popeye: The Sailor Man?
Unfortunately for the fighter’s fans, he’s not. I’m writing this article because of the power of modern-day video editing and AI integration. The Irishman appeared as Popeye, an internationally recognized cartoon sailor-strongman addicted to spinach, in KH Studio’s YouTube video, which was published on April 7 and has received nearly 3 million views at the time of this writing. The “concept trailer” was a piece “created solely for artistic and entertainment purposes,” the studio wrote in the video’s description.
In other words, it wasn’t put out by a legit Hollywood studio or streaming platform, and it’s not hitting theaters. Still, KH Studio did such a great job that I have to clarify that McGregor’s only work as a movie actor thus far was in Doug Liman’s Road House, which premiered on Amazon Prime last month.
Using a combination of AI, scenes of McGregor in Road House, McGregor voiceovers, and snippets from other films, KH Studio crafted a one-minute-long trailer of different seaward scenes, including Popeye —McGregor — adventuring on the open water.
The trailer wraps with Conor McGregor being credited as the star of Popeye: The Sailor Man. If you haven’t seen the video and you’ve made it this far into the article, it’s definitely worth your time to watch it, and you can view it below via the embedded YouTube player:
I have meticulously incorporated various effects, sound design, AI technologies, movie analytics, and other elements to bring my vision to life. Its purpose is purely artistic, aiming to entertain and engage with the YouTube community. My goal is to showcase my creativity and storytelling skills through this trailer. Thank you for your support, and let’s dive into the world of imagination
The creator listed several software products they used to bring the idea to digital reality, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and Mocha Pro. The channel boasts 160,000 YouTube subscribers at the time of this writing, and the video’s virality will likely increase that count further.
As mentioned, McGregor has one film under his belt as an actor. He portrayed the rough-and-tough mercenary Knox in the reimagination of Road House, a cult classic from the ’80s. He told several outlets ahead of the movie’s premiere that Hollywood would take a backseat as he prepared to make his UFC comeback later this year.
Will we see Notorious in another film? Who knows. Will he play Popeye? At this point, I hope so.
