‘The Brutalist’ Director Speaks Out After AI Controversy Erupts

The Brutalist Director Brady Corbet discusses backlash over the revelation that AI was used in parts of the film’s creation.

Corbet released a statement following the revelations by the film’s editor, Dávid Jancsó, in a January 11 interview with a tech publication. Red Shark News.

In the interview, Jancsó said that AI was used to modify parts of the Hungarian dialect in the film used by stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, as well as in the creation of architectural drawings that appeared towards the end of the film.

The use of AI was one of the main sticking points during the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild of America strikes against Hollywood studios in 2023.

As such, backlash erupted on social media following Jancsó’s revelations, including the post on X below.

In Corbet’s statement, the Golden Globe-winning director defended the use of AI to polish Brody and Jones’ dialogue and explained how it was implemented in The Brutalist.

“Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents,” Corbet said in the release (via Variety).

“The innovative Respeeder technology was used only in editing the Hungarian language dialogues, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for greater accuracy. No English language has been changed. This was a manual process, carried out by our sound team and Respecer in post-production,” Corbet’s statement added. “The goal was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them, and with the greatest respect for the profession.”

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Respeecher is the same Ukrainian startup that developed AI technology to accurately recreate the voice of James Earl Jones as Darth Vader for future use in any environment. Star Wars projects. By Vanity Fairthe actor signed over the rights to use his voice for Darth Vader to Lucasfilm in 2022. Jones died in September 2024 at the age of 93.

Jancso said Red Shark News that the production used AI while the ADR (which stands for automatic dialogue replacement) was not satisfactory enough. Jancsó told the publication that he is a “native Hungarian speaker” and that “it is one of the most difficult languages ​​to learn to pronounce.”

“If you come from the Anglo-Saxon world, certain sounds can be particularly difficult to understand. We first tried to ADR these more difficult elements with the actors,” Jancsó told the publication. “Then we tried to completely pair them with other actors, but it just didn’t work So we looked for other options to improve it.

Brady Corbet also discussed the use of AI imagery in ‘The Brutalist’

Also in David Jancsó’s interview with Red Shark News about The Brutalistthe publication noted that generative AI was used towards the film’s conclusion as a tribute to the work of Adrien Brody’s fictional character László Tóth.

In his statement Monday, Brady Corbet clarified how AI was used in the scene.

“(Production designer) Judy Becker and her team did not use AI to create or render any of the buildings. All images were hand-drawn by artists,” Corbet said (via Variety). “To clarify, in the memorial video shown in the background of one shot, our editorial team created images intentionally designed to look like bad digital renderings from the 1980s.”

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By The Hollywood Reporterfilmmakers have resorted to AI due to tight budget constraints. The Brutalistwhich, according to the trade publication, cost less than $10 million.

The controversy over the use of AI in The Brutalist comes at a crucial time for awards season as nominations for the 2025 Oscars are set to be announced on Thursday.

The reveal certainly doesn’t sit well with X users like @midsommarz, who posted: “My take on The Brutalist AI thing is that it’s a slippery slope to credit Adrian Brody knowing his accent was changed with AI. IMO thus altering a performance with an AI should automatically disqualify someone from these award shows.

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Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards will be announced Thursday after the ceremony was postponed twice due to wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

The Brutalist recently earned a Best Picture nomination from the Producers Guild of America and Corbet was nominated for Best Director by the Directors Guild of America. The film was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the British Film and Television Academy Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.

Additionally, Brody was nominated for Best Male Actor in a Motion Picture by the Screen Actors Guild Awards, BAFTAs and CCAs.

The Brutalist recently won Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture, Drama, Best Actor (Drama) for Brody and Best Director for Corbet.

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