Anya Taylor-Joy crushed it taking over for Charlize Theron in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, but one has to wonder if director George Miller may have liked someone more along the lines of a Tilly Norwood. We knew George Miller was a proponent of AI – having used the technology for Furiosa, blending the faces of Anya Taylor-Joy and Alyla Browne to bridge the character aging throughout – but now he is driving down that road in a way that will probably fill his fans with fury.
Speaking with The Guardian, George Miller said, “AI is arguably the most dynamically evolving tool in making moving image. As a film-maker, I’ve always been driven by the tools. AI is here to stay and change things…It’s the balance between human creativity and machine capability, that’s what the debate and the anxiety is about. It strikes me how this debate echoes earlier moments in art history,” particularly citing the Renaissance, hitting on the point that artistry evolves with the times.
To show his support for it, George Miller will be leading the judging panel at November’s Omin International AI Film Festival, an Australia-based fest devoted solely to the use of artificial intelligence in cinema. Such festivals, to Miller, will offer equal opportunities who want to tell stories but may not have the means. “It will make screen storytelling available to anyone who has a calling to it. I know kids not yet in their teens using AI. They don’t have to raise money. They’re making films – or at least putting footage together. It’s way more egalitarian.”
Admittedly, we know George Miller is correct when he says that AI is here to stay. And while that may be scary enough for a lot of those in the industry, that it is advancing at such a rapid rate is far more concerning. Look, Miller utilized it fairly effectively in Furiosa, so we know it can be incorporated in useful manners on the big screen (although some may object to him using it over, say, traditional makeup). But the matter for many will come down to filmmakers relying on it as a shortcut and tool to completely disregard creativity. Because let’s face it, there’s no creativity in typing, Make actor look younger.
What are your thoughts on George Miller’s perspective on AI? Does he raise valid points or is he on the wrong side of the road?
