The Brutalist aimed to be an Oscar-worthy film but faced backlash for using AI. The story, inspired by the fictional life of Holocaust survivor László Tóth (played by Adrien Brody), follows his journey to America, where he works as an architect.
Tóth faces struggles with addiction, financial problems, and the challenges of international fame. While the movie received great reviews, it didn’t make back its budget at the box office but still has a strong chance at the upcoming Academy Awards.
What makes The Brutalist stand out is how openly its creators talk about using AI in the film. Editor Dávid Jancsó told RedShark News that AI helped improve Hungarian pronunciations in the dialogue, as traditional methods like ADR didn’t work well. They also used AI to design architectural elements, which helped save money. Here’s what Jancsó had to say:
I am a native Hungarian speaker and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce. Even with Adrien’s Hungarian background – (Brody’s mother is a Hungarian refugee who emigrated to the U.S in 1956) – it’s not that simple. It’s an extremely unique language. We coached [Brody and Felicity Jones] and they did a fabulous job but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference.
If you’re coming from the Anglo-Saxon world certain sounds can be particularly hard to grasp. We first tried to ADR these harder elements with the actors. 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.
Most of their Hungarian dialogue has a part of me talking in there. We were very careful about keeping their performances. It’s mainly just replacing letters here and there. You can do this in ProTools yourself, but we had so much dialogue in Hungarian that we really needed to speed up the process otherwise we’d still be in post.
It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be. We should be having a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us with. 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.
As the list of Best Picture contenders for the Oscars takes shape, The Brutalist faces a tough challenge. The film’s message revolves around artistic integrity, but its open use of AI could hurt its chances.
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The Academy might hesitate to reward an editor who has been so vocal about using AI. Similarly, just as Dune: Part Two may face criticism for reusing music, this movie could encounter backlash from voters.
While the Academy might ignore the controversy, especially if Jancsó is right that many Hollywood projects use AI tools, it’s unlikely to stop the public from sharing strong opinions on the matter.
The Brutalist has faced heavy criticism ever since news of its AI usage came out. Many viewers have voiced their disappointment on social media platforms like Reddit and Twitter. They argue that the movie doesn’t deserve Oscar nominations because it relied on AI instead of human creativity for ideas and accents. Take a look at some of the negative reactions below:
Reddit user junglespycan thinks the voice changes aren’t a big problem, but feels the use of AI for images is “deeply immoral.”
Another Reddit user, RedGreenPepper2599, thinks that AI used to replace workers in films should be banned and not allowed for Oscar consideration.
On Twitter, @moonyswonka highlights the supposed hypocrisy of making Hans Zimmer ineligible for the Oscars while allowing The Brutalist to use AI tools.
Unlike other commentators, @c_valenzuelab defended the use of AI, stating that it’s no different from using practical or digital effects.
It’s clear that AI is slowly becoming part of many industries, and it’s hard to draw a clear line on where it should be used. In The Brutalist, the use of AI is pretty subtle, especially with the editor’s own voice being used for the audio.
This helps avoid issues with artistic integrity. However, the artwork used in the movie doesn’t feel as genuine and takes away from the film’s message since it borrows from other creations. Without the film’s themes, the backlash probably wouldn’t be this strong. It will be interesting to see how the Oscars react to all the controversy.