A debate tore through film twitter when it was revealed that an A.I. studio did work on the film The Brutalist. The news came right as voters were preparing to cast their ballots for the Academy Awards. That same studio also worked on Emilia Pérez.
An outlet that no one had heard of shared a piece claiming that the film used A.I. for star Adrien Brody's accent work as well as to make images for the end of the film. It made many angry that Brody had been nominated (and won) awards for a performance allegedly "enhanced" by A.I. and now we have clarification.
In an exclusive with Deadline, director Brady Corbet explained that the company, Respeecher, was used to help with a manual process of refining vowels in the Hungarian language. Corbet clarified that stars Brody and Felicity Jones' performances were not altered.
"Adrien and Felicity's performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents. Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy," Corbet said. "No English language was changed. This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity's performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft."
Another rumor that was going around was that images at the end of the film were created by A.I. as part of a presentation of László Tóth's (Brody) work at the end of the film. Corbet clarified that A.I. was not used to create or render buildings in the film and all the pieces were done by real artists. "Judy Becker and her team did not use AI to create or render any of the buildings. All images were hand-drawn by artists. To clarify, in the memorial video featured in the background of a shot, our editorial team created pictures intentionally designed to look like poor digital renderings circa 1980."
Corbet went on to talk about the film as a whole, making sure to make it clear what his film represents. "The Brutalist is a film about human complexity, and every aspect of its creation was driven by human effort, creativity, and collaboration. We are incredibly proud of our team and what they've accomplished here."
Since the news broke, over and over again people online have claimed that Brody should lose his chance at an Oscar nomination because of this. Many have even said that his entire performance was enhanced by A.I. when that just isn't what happened. We can (and should) have an ethical discussion about the use of A.I. in movies and art but the company Respeecher has been used in post-production before.
Corbet said it was a manual process used after the fact and was not used to alter Brody or Jones' performances. There is no reason why I should then long onto social media to see journalists saying otherwise. I understand that when the news first broke it was upsetting. I agree! That's not something you want to hear about a movie getting Oscar buzz. But the clarification means that the award conversation surrounding Brody's work can continue and should without controversy.
I don't think A.I. has a place in art, especially when it comes to creating art. But this is a case where I think that the A.I. was just part of a manual process and while I don't love it, it shouldn't hurt Brody in the process.