Brady Corbet, director of The Brutalist, recently addressed accusations that artificial intelligence (AI) was used in the film’s dialogue, following the success of the movie, including Adrien Brody’s Golden Globe win for his portrayal of Lazslo Toth. In a statement to Entertainment Weekly, Corbet strongly denied that AI had a role in the actors’ performances, specifically those of Brody and Felicity Jones. He emphasized that their dialogue was the result of months of hard work, as the duo spent significant time training with a dialect coach to master the Hungarian language.
Corbet clarified that while Innovation Respeecher technology was used, it was only in post-production to ensure the accuracy of the Hungarian dialogue, not to replace or alter the actors’ performances. He described this process as a manual one, handled by the sound team and Respeecher, with the goal of preserving the authenticity of the performances, rather than making any artificial changes.
In addition, Corbet addressed concerns about the film’s visual effects. He explained that the production team, led by Judy Becker, did not use AI in creating or rendering the buildings in the film. All of the images were hand-drawn by artists, and the digital renderings featured in the memorial video were intentionally designed to appear like low-quality graphics from the 1980s, aligning with the film’s aesthetic.
Corbet’s statements come in response to ongoing scrutiny in the film industry, particularly after the 2023 writers’ strike, where many films and TV shows were criticized for incorporating AI tools, often as a cost-saving measure or in place of human labor. The director sought to assure the public that The Brutalist remained a product of genuine craftsmanship and hard work by the cast and crew, despite the use of advanced technology in certain areas of production.