The Creator director says changing attitudes towards AI "really help" film
Gareth Edwards's latest film is set against a future war between humans and AI.
Gareth Edwards has explained how changing attitudes towards AI "really help" his new film The Creator – which is set against the backdrop of a war between humans and AI.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, the Rogue One director said that when he began writing the film in 2018, he naturally had no idea how things were going to develop in subsequent years, but that those changes could actually serve to make his epic sci-fi flick all the more relevant.
"AI was initially used as like a fairy tale device – as a metaphor to represent people who are different," he said.
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"Something that was really interesting is four or five years ago, when I first wrote a draft, the big note I got from everyone in the studio was like, 'But why would you ban AI? You know, AI… isn't it such an amazing thing? Why would people ban it?'
"And we spent a long time trying to set up the story in such a way that you understood why people might be a little bit anti-AI at the start of the movie."
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He added that now that those doubts and fears about the technology are the "default setting of everyone", it makes those earlier comments from studio executives seem "hilarious" in retrospect.
“And I think it really helps the movie," he continued. "I don't know, I sort of joke that, like, come the robot apocalypse, I'm gonna get saved because I sort of, in my movie, show that I have empathy and understand them. And maybe they won't enslave me!
"But it's like, I don't know, I think it's just one of those things where you don't… science-fiction is not really supposed to predict the future, it's supposed to prevent it. And so, you kind of throw ideas out there that interest you. And then we got really lucky with the zeitgeist on this one."
The Creator follows a character played by John David Washington who must track down and destroy an apparently deadly new weapon created by an advanced AI architect – only to find that the weapon takes the form of a young child.
In our three-star review of the film, we praised the "spectacular visuals" and added that although it is "sci-fi that preaches to the converted", those converts "will find enough to enjoy".
The Creator is showing in UK cinemas from Thursday 28th September 2023. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on tonight.
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