‘The Brutalist’ sparks controversy after film editor reveals use of AI

Days before the Oscar race officially kicked off, one of the expected frontrunners sparked controversy when the film’s editor admitted to using artificial intelligence to enhance Hungarian accents in “The Brutalist.”

Director Brady Corbet’s post-WWII epic, which stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, follows an architect who survives the war and flees Europe to America to rebuild his life.

The controversy began to intensify over the weekend after editor-in-chief Dávid Jancsó said in an interview with technology magazine Red Shark News that AI was used to improve the Hungarian accents of the main actors.

Debate over the use of the technology is intensifying just before Thursday’s Oscar nominations are announced, leading some to wonder whether “The Brutalist” should be considered for some of the biggest awards. The film is coming off a slew of big wins at the Golden Globes, including best picture and drama.

How has AI been used?

Jancsó said the film’s production used Ukrainian software company Respecer to improve Brody and Jones’ Hungarian accents when speaking Hungarian.

AI technology was not used to improve the English dialogue, which is used in most of the film, the filmmakers said.

“I am a native Hungarian speaker and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages ​​to learn to pronounce,” Jancsó told Red Shark News. “It’s an extremely unique language. We coached (Brody and Jones) and they did a fabulous job, but we also wanted to perfect it so even the locals wouldn’t see any difference.”

Some sounds and letters in Hungarian are difficult to pronounce, Jancsó said. He said the filmmakers first tried to “work out those more difficult elements with the actors.”

(ADR, or automated dialogue replacement, is a post-production process used to re-record dialogue.)

When that didn’t work, Jancsó said, the team “tried to ADR them completely with other actors, but it just didn’t work.”

“So we looked for other options to improve it,” Jancsó told Red Shark News.

Brody and Jones recorded their voices with the AI ​​software, as did Jancsó, who said: “Most of their Hungarian dialogue has a part of me speaking.”

“We’ve been very careful to maintain their performance. It’s mostly just replacing letters here and there,” he said.

He said the AI ​​was also used at the end of the film to create “a series of finished architectural drawings and buildings in the style” of Brody’s character.

“It’s controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be,” Jancsó said. “There’s nothing in the film using AI that hasn’t been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster.”

What did the director of the film say?

In response to online discussion about the film’s use of AI, Corbet, who won the Golden Globe for best director, said his lead actors’ performances were “entirely theirs” and that they had worked “for months” with a dialect coach. to perfect their Hungarian accents.

“The innovative Respececher technology was used only in editing the Hungarian language dialogues, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was edited. This was a manual process, produced by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production,” said Corbet. in a statement. “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.”

Corbet said AI was not used to create or render any of the buildings seen in the film and that all images were hand-drawn.

“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,” Corbet said.

“‘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 have accomplished here ” he said.

Brody and Jones did not respond to requests for comment Monday.

When asked if Jancsó had any further comments, film representatives pointed to Corbet’s statement.

AI in Hollywood

“The Brutalist” isn’t the only Oscar favorite to use AI.

“Emilia Pérez,” a musical about a Mexican cartel leader who transforms into a woman that also won big at the Golden Globes, also used Respecer, the software company said on Facebook.

The Facebook post doesn’t specify exactly how.

The use of AI in Hollywood films is not completely new, but the technology has caused a feeling of whiplash following the twin writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023. AI has been a sticking point during negotiations between unions and the respective studios, with creatives seeking assurance that their work would not be replaced by this technology. As Hollywood continues to attempt to return to normal after months-long strikes, many fear that the industry has not and cannot fully bounce back.

Last year, two AI-related deals made by two Hollywood companies also attracted the attention of netizens who expressed concern about the repercussions.

In September, Lionsgate, the studio behind franchises such as “The Hunger Games,” said it would allow filmmakers to “augment” their work with AI to save money, Variety reported at the time, causing disappointment online from people wondering what it would be like. means for filmmakers.

In October, Blumhouse Productions received backlash online after announcing its partnership with Meta to make short films using the company’s AI tools.

Blumhouse founder and CEO Jason Blum defended the move, saying his company “empowers artists” and “artists always come first.”

“Artists want tools. And for me it would be irresponsible if we didn’t at least know about the tools, and I think, also for me, it would be irresponsible not to learn more about the tools,” a- he declared in a press release. .

Blum added: “I don’t know anything about AI, but I wanted to do this to learn more.” He said he wants to form a partnership so that when filmmakers come to him in the future to ask questions about using AI, he can at least have a “reasonable answer.”

“It’s here to stay. So I want to understand it and I don’t understand it yet,” Blum said.