The Creator and Rogue One Director Addresses AI in Filmmaking (Exclusive)

AI is one of the biggest topics of discussion these days and played a huge role in the recently-ended WGA strike as well as the ongoing SAG strike. Whether it’s in real life or fiction, the topic of artificial intelligence seems to be inescapable. In fact, today saw the official release of The Creator, a new film by Rogue One director Gareth Edwards that follows a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to talk to Edwards about the AI-centric film, and the director opened up about the future of AI in filmmaking. 

“Sounds like Jurassic Park, isn’t it?” Edwards replied when asked about the use of VFX technology, and the recreation of late actor Peter Cushing in Rogue One. “It’s got a lot in common with Jurassic Park because in the timeline of cinema, there’s… You can kind of draw a line around Jurassic Park and digital effects, and there was everything before and after. And I think AI is going to be that same milestone. I think filmmaking before AI and filmmaking after AI are going to be quite different. There’s already stuff you can see coming down the line that’s not there yet, but it’s just a matter of time, like being able to generate footage from scratch without having to use a camera and all this sort of stuff. And it’s impossible to predict where it’s going to go.”

He added, “My secret hope is that it’s going to democratize filmmaking, and that you won’t need to have $200 million to make whatever film’s in your head anymore. So my hope is, just like when everyone could suddenly have an electric guitar, there was this big creative explosion of rock and roll and music in the ’60s and ’70s, that there might be a cinema version of that. Where kids in their bedroom, nothing’s stopping them. They can do anything they want. And I would hope that out of that, those tools, some really special storytelling will happen that can take massive risks, because there’s no real budget at stake if it doesn’t work. So, we’ll see.”

What Is The Creator About?

The Creator stars John David Washington (Tenet), newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan (Eternals), Ken Watanabe (Inception), Sturgill Simpson (Dog), and Academy Award winner Allison Janney (I, Tonya). The film’s screenplay is by Edwards and Chris Weitz, from a story by Edwards. Edwards is producing alongside Kiri Hart, Jim Spencer, p.g.a., and Arnon Milchan. The executive producers are Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Natalie Lehmann, Nick Meyer, and Zev Foreman.

In the film, Washington’s Joshua is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.  

“The Creator has a double meaning because on one side it means the person who is building A.I.,” Edwards shared with ComicBook.com at San Diego Comic-Con. “In the eyes of the West in our movie, [A.I.] is public enemy number one … It’s like Osama bin Laden, ‘We want them dead. They’re doing this terrible thing.’ On the other side of the fence, from the A.I.’s point of view and the people who live in Asia, the Creator is like God, is creating all these beautiful people. And so, it has this double meaning.”

The Creator is now playing in theaters.