Young Washington’s Controversial AI Use Explained by Director

Young Washington‘s director provides a controversial breakdown of the film using AI. He called the technology “safer” and “more affordable” in filmmaking.

Jon Erwin explains how AI helped in Young Washington’s production

Jon Erwin has been vocal about the use of AI in his movies. In a recent interview with Variety, the director claimed to have used AI for the historical drama Young Washington.

In one scene, Washington and his companions nearly drown in an icy river. Rather than subjecting the actors to this dangerous scene or using stunt doubles, Erwin combined a 50-foot pool built by the crew with ice props and generative AI tools to bring the scene to life.

In the interview, he stated, “The actors were there, the raft was there, the water was there, but the water wasn’t cold. It was a very small area that we were able to film it in, and we just mapped it to a much larger area, and I think that’s a great example of the use case of these tools to make something safer and more affordable in that scope to a project like this, and that way we didn’t have to leave Ireland.”

According to him, about 100 shots in the movie were enhanced by AI. He used Luma, Amazon’s Project Nara, and Magnific, which included AI-generated shots. He also employed five AI articles and an AI producer as part of his crew.

In one of the scenes, AI was used to turn two employees into British Soldiers after he filmed them in street clothes and put them in period-accurate costumes. However, not every scene was enhanced by AI, according to him, as he also relied on traditional methods like classic VFX.

He stated, “My view on the use of these tools is: Do everything you can for real, everything you possibly can, and then use these tools to amplify your vision and give you a bigger canvas. Erwin said. “What I’ve learned is these tools are best used not when they replace fundamental aspects of filmmaking, but when they amplify and when they augment them.”

His use of AI tools in the movie has earned criticism from audiences and critics alike. It earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 61%.

Users took to social media to call out the film’s use of AI. User @NationOfEagles wrote on X, “It WAS Young Washington. And DO NOT watch it. I stuck around until the credits to 100% confirm and yes it does use AI generation.” While user @KKriegeBlog wrote, “I am pretty sure, from the way that the French are depicted in a couple of clips, the lighting, the movement, etc, that they are using AI. 1/5.”

However, Erwin claimed that some users have misunderstood what was AI-generated and what was created using VFX. He has previously used AI for shows like House of David and The Old Stories: Moses. He also leads a company operating in collaboration with Innovative Dreams and Luma AI.

Source: Comingsoon.net