The Brutalist director Brady Corbet defends the film’s use of AI following backlash. Directed by Corbet, who co-wrote the script with his wife Mona Fastvold, the film follows a Hungarian-born Jewish architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), and his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), who survives the Holocaust and immigrates to the United States. After winning three Golden Globes, The Brutalist is an Oscar favorite, though it has recently come under fire for its use of AI, which was used to refine Jones and Brody’s Hungarian dialogue and to create some architectural designs.

Now, the film’s director is responding to the backlash and defending its use of AI. Via ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, Brady Corbet said that AI technology was used only to refine the film’s Hungarian dialogue, and that “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own.” Additionally, generative AI was used to create a series of architectural blueprints and finished buildings in the film’s closing sequence. Read Corbet’s full response below:

Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents. Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed. This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.

Judy Becker and her team did not use AI to create or render any of the buildings. All images were hand-drawn by artists. To clarify, in the memorial video featured in the background of a sH๏τ, our editorial team created pictures intentionally designed to look like poor digital renderings circa 1980.

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’ve accomplished here.

What Brady Corbet’s Comments Mean For The Brutalist’s AI Use

It Was Minimal

The Brutalist‘s AI controversy began shortly after the film’s editor Dávid Jancsó, who is a native Hungarian speaker, gave an interview with RedShark News and revealed that Respeecher was used during post-production. The AI-powered speech synthesis software recorded the actors’ voices to generate a Hungarian accent, and Jancsó further refined the dialect by incorporating his own voice into the AI model. Throughout the process, the editor took great care to preserve the actors’ performances, and AI was only used to tweak minor details, such as adjusting individual letters.

Corbet’s response emphasizes just how minimal The Brutalist‘s use of AI was, as the Respeecher technology was used solely for editing the Hungarian dialogue, specifically to fine-tune certain vowels and letters for greater accuracy. The goal was to maintain the authenticity of Felicity Jones and Adrien Brody’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them, and it was done with the utmost respect for the actors. Furthermore, AI was not used for designing or rendering any of the buildings, and every image was hand-drawn by artists.

Our Take On The Brutalist’s Use Of AI

The Backlash Has Been Overblown

Brady Corbet’s comments highlight how the backlash to The Brutalist’s use of AI has been overblown. As editor Dávid Jancsó mentions during his original interview, cleaning up audio in post-production is a standard filmmaking practice. In fact, the same technology was used much more extensively on Bohemian Rhapsody, and Rami Malek still won the Academy Award for Best Actor. In turn, The Brutalist‘s much more minimal use of AI shouldn’t hurt its Oscar chances.

During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, one of the biggest points of contention was protections against AI, especially preventing AI from replacing actors, which was not a real concern on The Brutalist. In fact, the film’s use of AI created jobs, as it was a meticulous, manual process carried out by the sound team during post-production. Corbet is a strong advocate for analog filmmaking, and The Brutalist stands as a monumental achievement, and the movie’s minimal use of AI shouldn’t take away from either reality.

Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline