“We experimented with AI for 3 still images”: David Dastmalchian’s Critically Acclaimed Horror Movie is Getting Skewered after Directors Defend AI Usage
David Dastmalchian might not have played a lot of leading roles, but fans would agree that he has owned the characters he has played so far. This year, he graced the big screens as the host of a ’70s talk show in the movie Late Night with the Devil.
Besides playing the lead role of the talk show host Jack Delroy, Dastmalchian is also a producer on the movie. Although the film was released to critical acclaim, it has been dabbling in controversies ever since it was discovered that AI was used in its making. Defending the move has further landed the directors into trouble as fans remain disappointed.
Directors of David Dastmalchian’s Late Night with the Devil Defended AI Usage
Not so long ago, David Dastmalchian was seen in Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster film Oppenheimer. From Thomas Schiff in Nolan’s The Dark Knight to Polka-Dot Man in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, he has portrayed some of the most memorable characters in superhero franchises. Not to mention that he has worked with Denis Villeneuve in three movies, Prisoners, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune.
Dastmalchian’s horror film Late Night with the Devil sees him in the lead role of Jack Delroy, who struggles with boosting the viewership of his show Night Owls in 1977. He goes to a drastic measure to do so by hosting a Halloween special in which he invites special guests to speak on the occult. Things go sideways when a young possessed girl Lilly turns out to be much more vicious than expected.
The movie was a hit with the fans who praised it for its unique filmmaking style and intriguing plot. However, that praise turned into criticism when some fas discovered that AI was used in the film. To save the movie from drawing even more negative attention, the directors Cameron and Colin Cairnes released a statement to Variety, which read:
“We experimented with AI for three still images which we edited further and ultimately appear as very brief interstitials in the film.”
The Australian siblings said this regarding the posters for the fictional talk show Night Owls. The posters appear during some of the transition scenes in the movie. They also justified it saying that it was necessary to achieve the ’70s aesthetic they had envisioned.
Directors Defending the Use of AI Has Made Fans Even More Upset
The clarification from the directors has done nothing to pacify the fans. Instead, it has only escalated the situation as it has been established during last year’s dual Hollywood strikes that the use of AI poses a threat to the jobs of hundreds of professionals in the industry. Many fans took to X to call out the move. Here is what some of them wrote:
That’s bullcrap and graphic designers are still looking for jobs. https://t.co/6jEhj3BdXr
— JD7 (@Jd14762) May 16, 2024
its wild how easy itd be to simply remove them, like they just keep digging themselves into bigger and bigger holes. theres no way to justify it, they had incredible practical effects in the film that are overshadowed by the constant ai used. they couldve just edited it out- https://t.co/QIGgYUWEg3
— ZAYNA🇵🇸 FREE PALESTINE (@sitcomabed) May 16, 2024
Once we say its fine to use generative AI at all then it snowballs. You could’ve paid an artist to draw this or not include it in the movie at all. Fuck you https://t.co/Yl3y55Pl42
— Nicole (@Nicole__VA) May 16, 2024
Non responses are the best kind of response now aren’t they.
Seriously. This is a shitty defence. Would cost you not that much to hire a artist to actually draw those and re-edit them into the film. https://t.co/yU7YjEKqFU
— Nitro-Spidey (@NitroSpidey) May 16, 2024
they seriously don’t even care that AI was even used in the movie and it’s pissing me off https://t.co/F30qxOrhde
— edwin ☆ (@Edwordo13) May 16, 2024
Some have even justified the use of generative AI tools in the film reasoning that the budget was quite low and it takes time to make movies. Saying that humans retouched the pictures does not seem to be a good enough defense for the film and directors continue to face backlash for their actions.
While A24’s Civil War ad campaign faced a similar reaction from the audience (via The Hollywood Reporter), there is no telling how many more such projects have been made and escaped notice.
Late Night with the Devil is available for streaming on Shudder.
