Adrien Brody in “The Brutal”
Source: A24
Two movies face controversy over their use of artificial intelligence nominee The Academy Awards were announced Thursday.
“The Fauves,” a drama about a Hungarian-Jewish architect who survived the Holocaust and fled to the United States, received 10 nominations, while “Emilia,” a musical about a transgender Mexican drug cartel leader Perez” led all films with 13 nominations.
Both films have been criticized this month for using artificial intelligence to enhance actors’ voices. The Beast was also criticized for its use of artificial intelligence to complement the visual effects in the film’s closing sequence.
“The Beast” has nominees Adrien Brody and Best Supporting Actress Felicity Jones, while “Emilia Perez” star Cara Sofia Garth Cohen was nominated for Best Actress. Both films were nominated for Best Picture and Best Film Editing. “Emilia Pérez” was nominated for Best Sound.
Artificial intelligence has been a focus of debate in Hollywood in recent years. The technology is often used during film production for tasks such as dubbing or color correction, and is not a reason to disqualify a film from being nominated for an Academy Award. Still, it remains a key question in the 2023 selection of actors and writers. strikeDuring this time, creators expressed concerns about AI taking over their jobs and impacting their pay.
both Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild-AFTRAThe Entertainers and Artists Union has reached an agreement with the Film and Television Producers Union, which includes conditions and compensation for productions using generative artificial intelligence and digital replicas of performers. But the agreements also leave unanswered questions, such as how freely studios can use existing content to train artificial intelligence.
SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment Thursday.
Tensions over artificial intelligence erupted earlier this month interview “The Beast” director and co-writer Brady Corbet and film editor David Jansso, both Oscar nominees, discussed the role of artificial intelligence in the film on Thursday. Jancso told RedShark that he used the artificial intelligence tool Respeecher to clone and enhance the Hungarian dialogue between Brody and Jones. Respeecher is needed to determine the pronunciation of certain letters and sounds, and it’s faster than editing conversations using other software platforms, he said.
Jansso also said he used generative artificial intelligence to help create the architectural drawings and buildings shown in the film’s finale.
“Talking about artificial intelligence is controversial in the industry, but it shouldn’t be,” he said in that interview. “We should have a very open discussion about what tools AI can give us. Everything that uses AI in movies has not been done before. It just makes the process faster. We use AI to create These are tiny little details that we didn’t have the money or time to photograph.”
The story caused an uproar on social media, with some users condemn use of artificial intelligence and said they would not watch the movie.
Corbett defended performance, told type“Adrien and Felicity’s performances are entirely their own.”
“They worked with dialect coach Tanera Marshall for several months to perfect their accents. The innovative Respeecher technology, used only in Hungarian dialogue editing, is specifically designed to refine certain vowels and letters to ensure accuracy. The English language does not Change. It was a manual process, and Variety reported that Corbet said: “Our sound team and Respeecher were responsible for post-production. “The intention was to preserve the authenticity of Adrian and Felicity’s performances in another language, rather than replace or alter them, and to do so with the utmost respect for the craft. “
(From left) Mexican actress Adriana Paz, Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez, American singer and actor Selena Gomez, French director Jacques Audiard, Spanish actress Carla ·Sofia Gascon and American actress Zoe Saldana won the Best Musical or Comedy Film Award for “Emilia” on January 5, the 82nd Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Beaver, California Held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Leigh Hills, Perez in the press room 2025 Year.
Robin Baker | AFP | Getty Images
The controversy has put “Emilia Pérez” in trouble, and the company is now being criticized for its use of Respeecher. in recent months interview Cyril Holtz, the film’s re-recording mixer, said Gascón, a transgender woman, was unable to reach certain singing ranges, so he used Respeecher to clone Gascón. ) and mixed it with that of French singer Camille, who co-created the film. music.
“In the case of Carla Sofia, the situation is more complicated because some parts of the field are really difficult, especially because she has made the transition and there are registers that are no longer available to her,” Holtz said in French. Translation based on review by CNBC.
“Emilia Pérez” Dealer Representative Netflix “The Beast” publisher A24 did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. An Academy Award representative declined to comment.
Defenders of these films cite previous films using similar techniques, e.g. “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Blending the voices of lead singer Rami Malek with those of singer Marc Martel, and “The Irishman” The project uses artificial intelligence to de-age stars like Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino.
Malek won the 2019 Oscar for Best Actor, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” won the Best Film Editing and Best Sound Mixing awards in the same year. “The Irishman” received 10 nominations at the 2020 Academy Awards, including Best Film Editing and Best Supporting Actor nominations for Pesci and Pacino.
Peter Csathy, chairman of creative media, a media and technology consulting firm, said that while Hollywood has long used technology to cut costs and improve production efficiency, the ability of generative AI to continue creating and build on existing content is unprecedented. He said this creates dual creative and legal risks, as many AI platforms face litigation Regarding copyright infringement.
“I think the role of the Academy Awards is first and foremost to celebrate great art,” Casey told CNBC. “But at the same time, it’s the academy’s responsibility to protect the rights of creators.”
The Fauves and Emilia Perez aren’t the only Oscar nominees this year known to be using artificial intelligence, either: “Maria,” The biographical drama starring Angelina Jolie as opera singer Maria Callas used Respeecher to clone the real-life Callas’ voice. “Maria” was nominated for Best Cinematography.
Disclosure: Respeecher participates in an accelerator program run by CNBC parent company Comcast.
