“`html
The director of The Brutalist has defended the performances of his principal actors after reports surfaced that artificial intelligence had been utilized to “enhance” their Hungarian accents.
Brady Corbet maintained that the portrayals of Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones were “entirely their own”.
Brody stars in the three-hour film, portraying Hungarian architect Laszlo Toth, a man striving to reconstruct his life in the United States following World War Two. Felicity Jones takes on the role of his spouse, Erzsebet.
Earlier this month, the film secured three Golden Globes and is anticipated to receive nominations at the upcoming Oscar awards.
In a statement shared with Deadline, Corbet asserted: “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are entirely their own.”
He noted that they had “trained for months” with a dialect coach “to master their accents”, but that technology from the firm Respeecher had been employed “solely in the editing of Hungarian language dialogue”.
Headquartered in Ukraine, Respeecher claims to offer filmmakers the opportunity to “experience the future of voice cloning” with their “state-of-the-art AI solutions”.
Corbet explained that it had been utilized “specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for precision”, further stating that “no English language was altered”.
This process was characterized as “manual”, conducted by “our sound team and Respeecher during post-production”.
Director Brady Corbet. Pic: AP
Corbet stated that the process was conducted “with utmost respect for the craft”, emphasizing that “the objective was to maintain the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them”.
He also mentioned that production designer Judy Becker and her team “did not employ AI to create or render any of the buildings” featured in the film’s concluding scenes.
Corbet’s comments followed an interview with the film’s editor David Jansco, who informed tech magazine Red Shark News that modifications had been made to “perfect” Brody and Jones’s Hungarian accents.
A native Hungarian, Jansco remarked it was one of the “most challenging languages to master in terms of pronunciation”.
He explained that they attempted to use ADR (automated dialogue replacement) for certain sounds and letters, but it was unsuccessful, as were attempts to “ADR them completely with other actors”.
They ultimately “sought alternative methods to enhance it” and eventually recorded the actors’ voices using the AI software, along with his own voice.
He added: “Most of their Hungarian dialogue includes a part of me speaking in it.”
“We were very meticulous about preserving their performances, mainly just modifying letters here and there.”
Jansco also mentioned that AI had been utilized to create a series of architectural sketches and completed buildings at the film’s conclusion.
(L-R) Selena Gomez and Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez. Pic: Netflix
In the meantime, the same AI company, Respeecher, appears to have collaborated on another film garnering significant Oscar attention, the operatic musical Emilia Perez.
The firm congratulated the film’s cast and creators on their Facebook page after they secured four Golden Globes earlier this month.
They commented: “At Respeecher, we take pride in being credited in this extraordinary production, which continues to ignite significant discussions and push creative limits.”
They did not elaborate on their specific role in the production.
However, during an interview at the Cannes Film Festival in May, the film’s re-recording mixer Cyril Holtz discussed the use of AI software to enhance the vocal capabilities of one of the film’s stars, trans actress Karla Sofia Gascon.
Holtz stated that the singing voice of Camille, a French pop artist who co-composed the film’s score, was blended into Gascon’s to expand their upper vocal range.
Sky News has reached out to the production teams behind The Brutalist and Emilia Perez, as well as Respeecher for further comments.
Measures against the use of AI featured prominently in discussions during negotiations between actors, writers, and Hollywood studios throughout months of strikes in the US in 2023.
Oscar nominations are set to be announced on Thursday.
Emilia Perez is currently streaming on Netflix. The Brutalist will be showing in UK cinemas starting Friday.
“`
