David Cronenberg defends 'The Brutalist' amid backlash for AI usage
What's the story
Amid the controversy over the use of AI to manipulate lead actor Adrien Brody's voice in The Brutalist, renowned Canadian director David Cronenberg has defended the movie.
Speaking at the London Soundtrack Festival, Cronenberg said the backlash was a "campaign against the movie."
"I think it was a campaign against The Brutalist by some other Oscar nominees. It's very much a Harvey Weinstein kind of thing, though he wasn't around," he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Voice editing
Cronenberg spoke about voice editing in his films
Cronenberg also spoke about voice editing in his own films. He shared he had modified the voice of a character in his 1993 film M. Butterfly.
"We mess with actors' voices all the time. In the case of the character, when he was being this singer, I raised the pitch of his voice and when he's revealed as a man, I lowered to his natural voice."
"This is just a part of moviemaking," he explained.
Film details
'The Brutalist' plot and controversy details
Directed by Brady Corbet, The Brutalist follows Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian Jewish architect who escapes to America from post-World War II Europe.
The film was mired in widespread controversy after editor David Jancso revealed that they had used AI to enhance Brody's accent during the edit.
Despite the controversy, The Brutalist won three Academy Awards, including Best Actor, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.