Oscar Nominee Front-Runner Faces Backlash After Using AI In Film Editing

Oscar award in bright orange, pink and green

The creators of Oscar nominee contender The Brutalist are facing backlash after revealing the use of AI in the film’s editing process.

The post-World War II film, directed by Brady Corbet and starring Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, explores the life of an architect who escapes to Europe after the war.

The film creators are facing controversy after editor Dávid Jancsó told Red Shark News that he used AI to enhance the leading character’s Hungarian accents.

This is all taking place in the run-up to Oscar nomination announcements on Thursday 23rd, for which The Brutalist is predicted to have several nominations after bagging a number of Golden Globes, including best picture and best drama.

Finding their true voice

Jancsó said the editing team initially tried to use automated dialogue replacement (ADR) – a post-production process used to re-record character speech.

When this didn’t work, the editors turned to Ukranian tech company Respeecher to make the character’s Hungarian accents more believable.

“I am a native Hungarian speaker and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce,” Jancsó said. “We coached [Brody and Jones] and they did a fabulous job but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference.”

Jancsó said he used Respeecher to record his own voice as a template, and then asked the actors to record their own – using his own accent to touch up theirs.

Some of the controversy comes from fears around credibility of the actor’s performances if enhanced with AI, but Jancsó reassured the editing team were careful to only carry out minor edits and “mainly just [replaced] letters here and there”.

The film’s director Brady Corbet also responded to the backlash, saying the picture’s main stars worked “for months” to get their accents right.

“It is 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.”

Another potential Oscar-nominee, Emilia Pérez – a film about a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel boss transition to a woman – has also come under scrutiny after reportedly also using Respeecher in its post-production.

The use of AI in Hollywood continues to garner controversy, especially since the writers and actors strikes in 2023, which saw workers raise concerns about the use of AI in film and TV, and the potential harm this poses to creative roles.

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