Why ‘The Brutalist’ is under fire for its use of AI

AHEAD OF A CLOSE Oscars race, The Brutalist director Brady Corbet finds himself under unexpected scrutiny. The critically-acclaimed drama about a fictional Hungarian architect assimilating into post-WWII America is expected to garner multiple nominations this year. Instead of gaining momentum in the final days before voting ends, the director is now facing a controversy involving AI that questions The Brutalist‘s authenticity.

According to the film’s editor, Dávid Jancsó, AI software was used to enhance both Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones’ performances throughout the film. In an interview with the tech website Red Shark News, Jancsó revealed that AI tools from Respeecher were used to tweak specific pronunciations within their Hungarian dialogue.

“I am a native Hungarian speaker, and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce,” Jancsó said. “Even with Adrien’s Hungarian background [Brody’s mother is a Hungarian refugee who emigrated to the U.S in 1956], it’s not that simple. It’s an extremely unique language. We coached [Brody and Felicity Jones] and they did a fabulous job but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference.”

“Most of their Hungarian dialogue has a part of me talking in there,” he continued. “We were very careful about keeping their performances. It’s mainly just replacing letters here and there. You can do this in ProTools yourself, but we had so much dialogue in Hungarian that we really needed to speed up the process otherwise we’d still be in post.”

After the news gained traction on social media, director Brady Corbet defended the film’s use of AI. Corbet also stated that Brody and Jones’s performances were entirely authentic, thanks to their training with dialogue coach Tanera Marshall.

“Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own,” Corbet told Deadline. “Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy.”

“This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production,” Corbet clarified. “The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.”

As the controversy has unfolded over the past few days, The Brutalist is suddenly the center of attention in the industry’s ongoing battle with AI. Here’s why it matters.

What does the AI controversy mean for The Brutalist?

There is arguably no issue more pressing to actors today than the use of AI. Following a strike lasting over one hundred days in 2023, the film and TV actors’ union (SAG-AFTRA) won the rights for performers to the use and likeness of their own voice in their new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The latest SAG-AFTRA contract also states, “In some situations, the performer’s consent is required” when a “performer’s performance is digitally altered.” According to Jancsó’s interview with Red Shark News, Brody and Jones were both “fully aware” of the use of Respeecher.

For those unfamiliar with the AI tool, Respeecher is quite new to Hollywood. The Ukrainian-based software was most famously used to recreate a younger voice for Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker in Disney+’s The Mandalorian. The software company also lists Blumhouse and Sony Pictures as clients on its website.

While some critics on social media believe that the Academy should disqualify The Brutalist’s performances from individual acting awards, others are seeking to clarity as to just how prevalent this technology is throughout Hollywood. According to Deadline, Netflix’s Emilia Pérez also used Respeecher to enhance Karla Sofía Gascón’s singing range. The actress’ voice was “blended with that of Emilia Perez score and songwriter, Camille.” Plus, Deadline reported that the use of AI on The Brutalist ended up creating more jobs rather than eliminating others.

Many commenters are also pointing toward Corbet’s $10 million shoestring budget for The Brutalist. Perhaps if Corbet’s ambitious film had more financial support, he wouldn’t have felt the need to explore time-cutting measures such as AI at all.

“It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be,” Jancsó concluded in his Red Shark News interview. “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 final nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards will be announced on Thursday, January 23.

This story originally appeared on Esquire US.

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