Oscars 2025 nominations are upon and The Brutalist is emerging as one of the favorite movies to clinch the prestigious award. However, a controversy has erupted over the use of AI in The Brutalist. On January 11, 2025, the editor of the movie Dávid Jancsó featured in an interview on Red Shark and talked about using artificial intelligence in the movie. Since then, platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit have seen opinions en masse from fans and movie critics about the use of AI in the Brutalist.
Yes, The Brutalist Used AI for Improving Hungarian Dialogue, As Per the Editor
In the interview, Jancsó confirmed that they used Ukranian software called Respeecher to improve the Hungarian dialogue by lead actors of the movie including Adrien Brody (whose mother is a Hungarian refugee), Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce.
“I am a native Hungarian speaker and I know that it is one of the most difficult languages to learn to pronounce. 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.” – Dávid Jancsó, Editor of The Brutalist
Jancsó further explained that they tried to ADR the dialogue in the Hungarian language with lead actors and other actors, but the results were not satisfactory. Both Brody and Jones agreed to use Respeecher to make the Hungarian dialogue in the movie clear and accurate for the native speakers of the language.
The process involved mainly replacing some letters and no performances in the English language were affected or altered using the tool, says Jancsó.
Another usage of generative AI in The Brutalist that Jancsó highlighted in the interview is seemingly coming out to be a major concern for movie critics. Jancsó said that they used AI in “a sequence at the Venice Biennale to conjure a series of architectural drawings and finished buildings in the style of the fictional architect.” He mentioned this was done to speed up the process and save money.
He said that it is something that has been done before and the use of AI in movies should not be a controversial topic.
“It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be. 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.” – Dávid Jancsó
The Brutalist is about the renowned architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet who fled war-torn Europe in 1947 to America. There they meet Harrison Van Buren, an industrialist who commissions László to build a structure in honor of his mother. This project brings a life-changing experience for László, in both good and bad ways.
Now that the controversy of using generative AI for architectural drawings in The Brutalist has erupted, fans are calling out the hypocrisy of the movie makers, considering the entire plot of the movie revolves around a man who comes to an untraveled country to become a prolific architect.
Some X users said that The Brutalist should be disqualified from The Oscars for the use of artificial intelligence.
they used AI in the brutalist not only to avoid paying visual artists for their work but also to manipulate the actors’ accents, a fundamental aspect of… acting. this is a disgrace. pic.twitter.com/BmjtoeNchT— lina ✨ (@onlyafortnight) January 19, 2025
Should've cut the runtime and used the money to hire the people needed that AI replaced.— Oliver Guild (@Oliver__Guild) January 19, 2025
Now, The Brutalist director Brady Corbet has issued a statement to Deadline clarifying that the use of AI was done to smoothen the Hungarian accent in the movie and it did not affect the performances by Adrien and Jones.
“Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents. 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. This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. 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.” – Brady Corbet
He also said that AI was not used to render any drawings of the structures in the movie. All the images were hand-drawn by artists.
“Judy Becker and her team did not use AI to create or render any of the buildings. All images were hand-drawn by artists. To clarify, in the memorial video featured in the background of a shot, our editorial team created pictures intentionally designed to look like poor digital renderings circa 1980.”
While The Brutalist has found itself embroiled in the AI controversy, another Oscar contender Emilia Perez, a musical drama by Netflix has also found itself in the midst of it.
Emilia Perez AI Controversy
Emilia Perez is about four women, one of which is Emilia, a Cartel leader. She takes the help of her lawyer to fake her death and start afresh. The movie has been nominated for 11 BAFTA awards and has garnered positive reviews from critics. In an interview at the Cannes Film Festival, it was confirmed that AI was used to enhance the range of the singing voice of Karla Sofìa Gascón in the movie.
Respeecher, the software used to refine Hungarian dialogue in The Brutalist, was used in Emilia Perz as well. Now, that the movie is one of the frontrunners for the Oscars, fans have started calling out the AI usage and are demanding disqualification.
