“The Brutalist” and “Emilia Pérez,” two films that were enhanced with artificial intelligence, were nominated for numerous Academy Awards last Thursday. “The Brutalist,” which tells the story of a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the United States, received 10 nominations. The film’s editor, David Jancso, disclosed that he used Respeecher, an AI voice-generation tool to tweak the Hungarian spoken by actors Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones, who are American and British respectively. Jancso himself is a native Hungarian speaker and acknowledged that Hungarian is “one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce.”
Meanwhile, “Emilia Pérez,” about a Mexican cartel leader’s gender transition, led all films this year with 13 Oscar nominations. The film also used Respeecher to blend the voice of the lead actress, Karla Sofía Gascón, a trans woman, with that of the French singer Camille, to help her sound natural singing in higher octaves.
The films have faced criticism for using artificial intelligence at a time when Hollywood — and its unions — have been grappling with the appropriate role of the technology in filmmaking. But post-production editing is an essential part of filmmaking. What’s the difference if the tools they use use AI or not? Share your thoughts with us here.
