Al is on the march in Hollywood — but is there still a plot twist to come?

It's uprooting the way films are made (and viewed) but can it ever produce a classic, asks WILLIAM HOSIE

- WILLIAM HOSIE

You’ll probably be aware that there’s controversy around this year’s top pick at the Oscars. Brady Corbet, the director of The Brutalist, an epic film about a Hungarian architect in 1950s America,

has been accused of using AI to generate architectural drawings and improve the voice of actors speaking in a foreign language.

This particular row is a useful metaphor for what’s going on in Hollywood more widely. AI is uprooting how films are made — and how they’re viewed. The insiders I spoke to have, for the most part, embraced the arrival of AI technology: they say it helps reduce the grunt work, refine ideas, do things faster. Molly Hackney, a writer and set designer who’s worked on Killing Eve, describes it as a “Molotov cocktail” that’s a gamechanger for indie films.

When asked if it compromises creativity, the answer is no. “It’s extra ammo in the arsenal,” says Peter Ettedgui, a Bafta-winning producer. Yet there’s a difference between being AI-assisted and AI-led: and some worry this is the direction of travel. Indeed, some fear the use of AI heralds the advent of fast-output, bingeworthy content that will all but eliminate the need for producers, writers and editors.

Although such jobs are safe for now when it comes to premium drama, their shrinking influence on the wider industry with the rise of ambient TV is bad news for Hollywood. There’s even a risk that AI could replace performers, with voice actors especially vulnerable to audio cloning. John Magaro, who plays Geoffrey Mason in the Oscar-nominated thriller, September 5, said this month he “wouldn’t encourage anyone to become an actor nowadays” because of all the unknowns surrounding his line of work.