Jodie Foster slams Brad Pitt film F1 revealing why she thinks it was made by AI
Jodie Foster has raised eyebrows after suggesting one of the biggest movies of the year might not have been written by a human at all.
The legendary actress and director appeared at the Aspen Festival of Ideas this week for a talk titled "Who Owns The Future of Hollywood" alongside former Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, where the pair got deep into a conversation about artificial intelligence and its growing role in the film industry.
During the discussion, Foster bought up Apple's recent blockbuster F1, starring Brad Pitt, as an example of what she believes AI-generated filmmaking might already look like, even joking that she reckoned the movie could have been written by a computer.
"I don't say this disparagingly, how could I? This movie went on to make millions of dollars. But I look at a movie like F1, and I'm like 'F1 was made by AI'," she said, then burst out laughing.
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"Wasn't it? I mean the structure was exactly the structure that you would learn in school."
She wasn't done there.
"The actors say the lines exactly the way it would be written if a computer was writing exactly what would be the right thing for that time. And they were able to dominate the technology to make something big and beautiful and potentially where a lot of the information comes from other places," she added.
F1 grossed an eye-watering $346 million worldwide since its release and picked up four Oscar nominations, including one for best picture, ultimately taking home the award for best sound.
WiIl AI replace actors and writers in Hollywood?
The conversation wasn't limited to discussing F1. Lynton pushed Foster further on what she believes AI will actually mean for the future of the industry, and whether jobs are already on the line.
"AI is one more giant step forward into changing the industry," Foster explained, pointing to the way CGI and digital technology had already reshaped how films get made long before AI entered the conversation.
When Lynton asked directly whether the tech could end up replacing actors and writers altogether, Foster didn't shy away from the reality of what's already happening behind the scenes.
"We do replace people," she said, explaining that studios are already cutting costs by digitally replicating background actors instead of hiring more people for crowd scenes.
"We're getting rid of a lot of jobs and hopefully, things like unions will be able to come in and say, you can use my actor 20 times, but you're going to pay him 20 times. And I think that's fair," she added.
Can AI be useful for filmmakers?
Despite her concerns, Foster admitted she isn't completely against the technology, insisting there's a place for it when used properly.
She explained that AI can be genuinely useful for 'small helpful things,' such as previz, which is the process of pre-visualising scenes before they're actually filmed, adding, "What we all would love is that filmmakers would be able to dominate AI, and never lose sight of that."
Foster pointed to her most recent film, My Private Life, where she used AI to help create a dream-like sequence that she felt worked well creatively, even though she admitted the resulting images 'made no sense.'
"If we are able to dominate AI consistently over time, we will be able to make things that reflect us, and we can make things better," she said.
UNILAD has approached Jerry Bruckheimer, Apple, and Brad Pitt for comment.
Topics: Artificial Intelligence, Hollywood, Brad Pitt
Thomas Bamford