A charitable assumption would be that Deepcake thought it found a contact with someone pretending to be Mr Willis’ agent, but that was an impostor.
Considering that the statement they think they got from Mr Willis has the same grammar approximations as the rest of the website, I find it unlikely it was actually from him.
The news then seemed to fabricate that he has signed off his likeness in some sort of long term contract. It was later established this wasn't the case, but that still doesn't mean he didn't engage in the previous work.
The less likely possibility is that they did get rights, but look so shady that the rep can't confirm it is legitimate without a blow to credibility.
This is going to change the whole face (heh!) of identify theft.