Soderbergh's Next Film Bets on AI as a Creative Partner

Director Steven Soderbergh is turning to artificial intelligence as a key collaborator for an upcoming project about the Spanish-American War. The filmmaker, currently completing a documentary on John Lennon and Yoko Ono, described the period piece as an untold story that grows more relevant by the day, with actor Wagner Moura already attached.

In a recent interview, Soderbergh detailed his practical experiments with AI tools. He's employed them not to generate realistic scenes, but to craft abstract, dreamlike imagery. For his documentary, he used the technology to produce surreal visual sequences that accompany philosophical discussions, filling about ten minutes of the runtime. 'You need a Ph.D. in literature to tell it what to do,' he quipped, emphasizing that the tools demand intense human guidance. 'It desperately requires very close human supervision.'

His move comes amid industry-wide debate over AI's role. The actors' union SAG-AFTRA recently backed a federal policy framework advocating for intellectual property safeguards and workforce development alongside innovation. For Soderbergh, the immediate challenge is budgetary; he's in talks with two studios and is focused on assembling a cast compelling enough to draw audiences to theaters upon release. 'It’s a weird time to be making movies,' he observed, framing AI as another technological variable in the complex equation of modern filmmaking.

Source: Deadline