As it gears up to become one of the frontrunners of awards season, Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” has sparked backlash on social media after its editor admitted to using AI in the film.
In an interview with tech magazine Red Shark News, editor Dávid Jancsó revealed that AI tools from Respeecher — a Ukrainian software company — had been deployed in order to improved the authenticity of the Hungarian dialogue of stars Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones.
“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. “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 that not even locals will spot any difference.”
According to Jancsó, certain words are particularly difficult to speak, so the filmmakers “first tried to ADR these harder elements with the actors” to overcome this. “Then we tried to ADR them completely with other actors but that just didn’t work. So we looked for other options of how to enhance it.”
Brody and Jones recorded their voices into the AI software, while Jancsó said he also fed in his voice to “finesse the tricky dialect.”
“Most of their Hungarian dialogue has a part of me talking in there,” he added. “We were very careful about keeping their performances. It’s mainly just replacing letters here and there.”
Jancsó also revealed that generative AI was used in the final sequence of “The Brutalist” to create a “series of architectural drawings and finished buildings” in the style of Brody’s character, László Tóth.
Despite the explanation and the limited use of AI as described by Jancsó, news that “The Brutalist” — which has been praised for its painstakingly crafted cinematic style — deployed the tool in its making has been met with criticism, with many on social media attacking the decision.
One user suggested AMPAS’ decision to disqualify Hans Zimmer’s “Dune: Part Two” score from the Oscars because it used elements of the music from the first “Dune” but allowing “The Brutalist” to pass through despite using AI in the dialogue showed inconsistencies. Another said that it was a “disgrace” to use AI to “avoid paying visual artists for their work” and also to manipulate the accent of actors, which they said was a “fundamental aspect of… acting.” Variety has reached out to Focus Features and Jancsó for comment.
In the interview, Jancsó acknowledged that it was “controversial” to talk about AI but said it shouldn’t be.
“We should be having a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us with,” he said. “There’s nothing in the film using AI that hasn’t been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster. We use AI to create these tiny little details that we didn’t have the money or the time to shoot.”
