Director Brady Corbet is defending The Brutalist after it was revealed that artificial intelligence had been used to make some of the Hungarian dialogue delivered by its English-speaking cast sound more authentic.
The Brutalist – which hits UK cinemas later this week – follows László Tóth (played by Adrien Brody), a Hungarian Jew who survived the Holocaust and seeks a new life in the U.S. with his wife, Erzsébet (Felicity Jones), after World War II.
Earlier this month, Adrien won a Golden Globe for his performance, and is widely expected to receive an Academy Award nomination. Corbet also snagged a Golden Globe for best director.
However, the film drew heavy criticism after the tech publication Red Shark News confirmed last week that “judicious use of AI” was partly responsible for Brody’s and Jones’ accents.
“I am a native Hungarian speaker and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce,” editor Dávid Jancsó told the outlet. “It’s an extremely unique language.
“We coached [Adrien and Felicity] and they did a fabulous job but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference.”
Not surprisingly, the news drew a frosty response online, with many comparing Adrien unfavorably against Timothée Chalamet and Daniel Craig, among other Oscar hopefuls.
“Hearing Brody used AI to change aspects of his voice sort of reminds me of when my favourite baseball player would get busted for steroids. I feel lied to,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Added another: “Insane that there are people defending The Brutalist’s use of AI to enhance Adrien Brody’s Hungarian accent when there are actors who learn languages for just one role.”
In a statement issued to The Hollywood Reporter on Monday, however, Corbet clarified that Brody’s and Jones’ performances in the film are “completely their own”.
“They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents,” he said. “Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed.”
“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,” he added.
AI remains a contentious issue in Hollywood, and demands for regulation over the technology’s use were central to the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023.
Some, including actor Ben Affleck, have defended the rising use of AI in the film industry.
“AI can write you excellent imitative verse that sounds Elizabethan — it cannot write you Shakespeare,” he said in November at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha investor summit.
“What AI is going to do is disintermediate the more laborious, less creative, and more costly aspects of filmmaking that will allow the costs to be brought down, that will lower the barrier to entry, that will allow more voices to be heard, that will make it easier for the people [who] want to make Good Will Huntings to go out and make it.”