- “Heretic,” the newest horror film from indie studio A24, doesn’t use any generative AI.
- Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods made sure to put that disclaimer in the title.
- The writing and directing duo told BI why it was important to take a stand for AI in Hollywood.
A24’s new horror film “Heretic” is a chilling rumination on faith and belief. But filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods have far less to fear from a sadistic Hugh Grant than from something else taking over Hollywood: artificial intelligence.
It’s pretty clear that Beck and Woods’ film, about a couple of Mormon missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are trapped by a charming but evil old man (Hugh Grant), doesn’t contain any major effects. computer generated. But the duo still chose to include a disclaimer in their film’s end credits stating that no generative AI was used to make their film.
Beck and Woods, who are best known for writing the screenplay for A Quiet Place, are not issuing a blanket warning against AI, which they acknowledge could be useful in making people’s lives easier in some way. They’re talking specifically about generative AI, in which technology creates new images, videos, or textual content.
Woods told BI that he doesn’t understand why it’s legal for generative AI to take existing creations and use them to bring back new jobs, benefiting the company that owns the AI without compensating the original creators.
“Stealing other people’s stuff and then generating something that’s better in seconds is crazy,” Woods said.
“This is very strange. We are in strange times,” he continued. “This shouldn’t be allowed by any kind of ethical standard, but it’s all so new and moving so fast that we, as a culture, are not keeping up with it.”
The use of artificial intelligence in Hollywood was a major concern during the 2023 Hollywood strikes and remains a source of contention between creators, who worry they’ll be out of a job, and executives, who worry about termination.
The use of AI in recent releases such as Furiosa, Alien: Romulus, Late Night With the Devil and Civil War (another A24 release), either within the films or in their marketing materials, has caused controversy. this year.
Most recently, horror studio Blumhouse Productions was criticized for partnering with Meta on a new initiative that will allow select filmmakers, including Casey Affleck, to test the tech company’s AI video generation system, Meta Movie Gen.
The system uses text inputs to create and edit realistic videos; in this partnership, filmmakers would use AI-generated video clips within larger works. (Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum said in a statement accompanying the news that artists will remain “the lifeblood of our industry” and that new technology like this would help artists tell their stories.)
Beck said he and Woods hope there is a way forward for a “marriage” between AI and the “human touch” of creators.
“‘Heretic’ is a very personal film,” Beck said. “Our hope would be that the AI generators can’t reach the peak and create a human experience.”
Woods said he and Beck wanted to use their film’s denial to direct viewers’ attention to the issue.
“It’s something that we hope people will continue to talk about and talk about before human purpose disappears from planet Earth overnight,” he said. “We’re at a very scary tipping point here.”
“Heretic” opens in theaters on Friday, November 8.