Brady Corbet's triple Golden Globe-winner The Brutalist has been facing backlash online after it was revealed that AI was used during the production process.
In a recent interview with Red Shark News, film editor Dávid Jancsó shared that AI tools from Ukrainian software company Respeecher were used to "improve the authenticity of the Hungarian dialogue" for stars Adrian Brody and Felicity Jones.
Jancsó shared with Red Shark, "I am a native Hungarian speaker and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce." He continued, "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, the filmmakers tried to use ADR to fix certain Hungarian words that are difficult to speak. They decided to pivot to other options to enhance the actors' dialogue, and Brody and Jones recorded their voices into Respeecher's AI software. Jancsó shared that he fed his own voice into the software to "finesse the tricky dialect," adding that most of the actors' Hungarian dialogue has a part of him talking. "We were very careful about keeping their performances It's mainly just replacing letters here and there."
The film editor also revealed that generative AI was used to create a "series of architectural drawings and finished buildings" drawn by Brody's character Lászlò Tóth in the final sequence of the film.
Jancsó defended the use of AI in the interview, claiming that it "is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn't be." He continued, "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."
The Brutalist was initially praised for its cinematic style, but the usage of AI in the film has sparked controversy over social media with many users criticizing the decision. So far, Jancsó has not commented on the backlash.