Deep Voodoo

Deep Voodoo is an American visual-effects studio established in 2020 by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators associated with South Park. The company was formed to develop artificial-intelligence-based visual-effects tools, with a particular emphasis on highly realistic face replacement, digital de-aging, and related deepfake techniques for entertainment applications. The studio originated within Park County, Stone and Parker's independent entertainment company. A team of more than twenty computer-graphics artists had initially been assembled for a film project. When production was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the group redirected its capabilities toward building deepfake technology and applying it to filmed entertainment. This shift gave Deep Voodoo a business identity distinct from conventional visual-effects houses: its work centers on machine-assisted facial transformation and age manipulation, while still requiring artists and compositors to shape the final result. Deep Voodoo's first publicly identified project was Sassy Justice, a 2020 satirical series produced with actor and filmmaker Peter Serafinowicz. The project used synthetic and altered faces in the style of a television investigative program and served as an early demonstration of the studio's ability to combine comedy, performance, and photorealistic digital manipulation. Its connection to Stone and Parker's creative work also positioned the company as a production-oriented effects studio rather than solely a technology developer. In 2022, Deep Voodoo obtained $20 million in outside funding through Connect Ventures, the investment partnership associated with Creative Artists Agency and New Enterprise Associates. Before that financing, the studio had reportedly been funded entirely by Park County. The investment indicated an intention to expand Deep Voodoo's tools and services beyond projects directly controlled by its founders and into a broader commercial market. The studio subsequently received prominent credits across music videos, television, streaming productions, and advertising. Its work on Kendrick Lamar's “The Heart Part 5” involved digitally placing the likenesses of O.J. Simpson, Jussie Smollett, Nipsey Hussle, Kobe Bryant, and Kanye West onto Lamar. The video became one of the most visible examples of Deep Voodoo's face-replacement capabilities and formed part of a wider relationship between Lamar's PGLang and Park County. Deep Voodoo has also been associated with age-manipulation work for Billy Joel's “Turn the Lights Back On” music video, the Rolling Stones' “In the Stars,” Apple TV+'s Before, and the second season of Peacock's Ted. The company has additionally contributed to scripted comedy and advertising. It was credited for visual-effects work used in a live-action depiction of Donald Trump in South Park's twenty-seventh-season premiere, “Sermon on the 'Mount.” The studio was also credited on a Dunkin' Donuts advertisement featuring Ben Affleck that aired during Super Bowl LX. These projects illustrate the range of uses for its technology, from comedic impersonation and historical or biographical age transitions to commercial celebrity work. Deep Voodoo's positioning is shaped by the intersection of entertainment production and generative or AI-assisted visual effects. Its public profile has been driven less by consumer products than by project credits, specialized production services, and demonstrations of realistic digital identity transformation. The studio's work also sits within ongoing debates about consent, likeness rights, authenticity, and the responsible use of synthetic media, although the available reference material does not document a specific scandal or legal proceeding involving the company.

Deep Voodoo emerged in early 2020 from a computer-graphics group associated with Park County, the independent entertainment company operated by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The team had originally been assembled to work on a film, but the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted that production. Rather than disbanding, the group redirected its expertise toward deepfake technology and created a studio focused on using artificial intelligence and visual-effects craft for entertainment. The new company was built around the idea that synthetic faces could be used as a production technique rather than merely as an internet novelty. Deep Voodoo's early work combined machine-assisted facial replacement with conventional effects supervision, compositing, and finishing. This approach allowed the studio to support comedy, music, scripted television, streaming content, and advertising while retaining control over the artistic presentation of altered performances. Its first known project was Sassy Justice, a satirical series made in collaboration with Peter Serafinowicz and released in 2020. Styled as a television investigative program, the project used digitally manipulated faces as part of its humor and demonstrated the studio's ability to produce photorealistic synthetic-media content. The project also helped establish Deep Voodoo's public identity in connection with the creative sensibilities of Stone and Parker. For its initial period, the studio was funded by Park County. In 2022, it raised $20 million from Connect Ventures, an investment partnership involving Creative Artists Agency and New Enterprise Associates. The financing represented a transition from a founder-funded operation toward a company with outside capital and the potential to serve a wider range of entertainment clients. Deep Voodoo gained broader recognition through its work on Kendrick Lamar's music video for “The Heart Part 5.” The video used facial transformations to portray Lamar as O.J. Simpson, Jussie Smollett, Nipsey Hussle, Kobe Bryant, and Kanye West. The project was the first publicly identified collaboration in a relationship between Lamar's PGLang and Park County, which was also associated with plans to produce a feature film for Paramount Pictures. The studio's later credits demonstrate the breadth of its technical specialization. It worked on Billy Joel's “Turn the Lights Back On,” where Joel is shown at different ages, and contributed de-aging technology to the Apple TV+ series Before, the Rolling Stones' “In the Stars” music video, and the second season of Peacock's Ted. It was also credited for visual effects used in a live-action depiction of Donald Trump in South Park's twenty-seventh-season premiere and for a Dunkin' Donuts commercial featuring Ben Affleck aired during Super Bowl LX. Deep Voodoo's business remains centered on project-based visual-effects services and technology development rather than a mass-market branded product. Its differentiation lies in the ability to create realistic transformations of recognizable performers and public figures for controlled entertainment contexts. Because these techniques affect a person's likeness and can make fabricated imagery appear authentic, the studio operates in an area where production value, performer consent, rights management, and public expectations about synthetic media are closely connected. The supplied reference material does not identify a specific lawsuit, recall, scandal, or regulatory action involving Deep Voodoo.

• 2022

  Outside funding is secured

  [1]Deep Voodooen.wikipedia.org

  Deep Voodoo raises $20 million through Connect Ventures after initially being financed by Park County.

• 2022

  The Heart Part 5 receives Deep Voodoo effects

  [1]Deep Voodooen.wikipedia.org

  Deep Voodoo creates facial transformations for Kendrick Lamar's music video, depicting several public figures through digital face replacement.

• 2020

  Deep Voodoo is created

  [1]Deep Voodooen.wikipedia.org

  Matt Stone and Trey Parker establish the studio after a film-oriented computer-graphics team pivots toward entertainment deepfake technology.

• 2020

  Sassy Justice is released

  [1]Deep Voodooen.wikipedia.org

  The studio's first identified project uses synthetic faces in a satirical television-news format created with Peter Serafinowicz.

A specialist entertainment visual-effects studio combining artificial intelligence, deepfake methods, and artist-led production for photorealistic facial transformation and de-aging.

• Visual-effects service · 2020

  AI-assisted facial replacement

  Deep Voodoo develops and applies deepfake techniques that replace or transform a performer's face while preserving the surrounding performance, lighting, movement, and editorial context. Its best-known use has been in music videos and comedy projects involving recognizable public figures.

• Visual-effects service

  Digital de-aging

  The studio provides age-manipulation effects that depict performers at different points in their lives. This work has been associated with music videos and streaming productions, including projects involving Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, Before, and Ted.

• Production service · 2020

  Custom synthetic-media production

  Deep Voodoo undertakes project-specific visual-effects production for entertainment and advertising clients. Services can include AI tool development, facial transformation, compositing, and final effects work tailored to the creative and editorial requirements of a production.

• 2022The Heart Part 5

  United States · International music-video market

  Deep Voodoo created face transformations for Kendrick Lamar's music video, showing Lamar as several public figures, including O.J. Simpson, Jussie Smollett, Nipsey Hussle, Kobe Bryant, and Kanye West.

  Outcome. The video became a prominent public example of the studio's deepfake work and initiated a partnership context involving PGLang and Park County.

  Source
• 2020Sassy Justice

  United States · Online

  A satirical investigative-report-style series produced with Peter Serafinowicz and used as Deep Voodoo's first publicly identified showcase of deepfake entertainment effects.

  Outcome. The project established the studio's public profile and demonstrated its photorealistic face-manipulation capabilities.

  Source

• 2022

  Accept outside investmentStrategy

  Background

  Deep Voodoo had previously been funded entirely by Park County.

  Action taken

  The studio raised $20 million through Connect Ventures, associated with Creative Artists Agency and New Enterprise Associates.

  Aftermath

  The financing provided external capital for the studio's technology and growth, although the supplied material does not specify its detailed allocation.

  Funding raised. $20 million (2022)

  Source

• 2020

  Pivot from film production support to deepfake technologyStrategy

  Background

  A computer-graphics team assembled for a film project was affected by the COVID-19 production interruption.

  Action taken

  The team was reorganized as Deep Voodoo and directed toward developing AI-based visual-effects tools for entertainment.

  Aftermath

  The pivot created a specialized studio whose public work focused on facial replacement, de-aging, and synthetic-media production.

  Source

1. 1Deep Voodooen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Deep Voodoo official websitedeepvoodoo.com