A waxwork model of Darius Rucker has been taken to a whole new level of realism. Not only does the figure look like the Hootie and the Blowfish frontman, it talks like him too.

Madame Tussauds Nashville, the music-inspired Merlin midway in Tennessee, unveiled its “living waxwork” this week, and is the first Madame Tussauds to integrate this kind of 3D projection mapping technology with its waxwork icons.

“The fact that we are the first attraction across Madame Tussauds globally to introduce such technology is incredibly exciting,” said JeanPierre Dansereau, general manager at Madame Tussauds Nashville. “This is a very important step forward for the brand, which is continually looking at technology and ways to improve and connect our guests even closer to their favourite celebrity.”

London-based creative studio seeper worked on the project, first collaborating with Rucker, studying his mannerisms, speech patterns and facial expressions and creating a video – filmed from multiple angles – of him talking.

The video was projected onto a 3D model of Rucker’s head as seeper gradually built up a digital animation for the talking waxwork.

“We’re fascinated at the challenge of bringing the Madame Tussauds figures to life and this is the first step on that road,” said seeper managing director Ed Daly.

“The next project on our research roadmap is integrating language processing and artificial intelligence. So, this is the first step on the road to one-day creating the ‘people’ we see in fiction like the Westworld TV series.”