“The Brutalist” Director Says Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones' 'Performances Are Completely Their Own' After Facing AI Backlash

Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones’ work in The Brutalist is “completely their own,” the film’s director says, despite the use of artificial intelligence-driven technology on their performances.

Following a Jan. 11 RedShark News interview with The Brutalist editor Dávid Jancsó, which revealed that the stars’ Hungarian dialogue was smoothed over in post-production with speech synthesis software Respeecher, an outcry over the controversial technology ensued on social media.

In a statement to Deadline, the award contender’s director and co-writer Brady Corbet defended the decision to modify Brody and Jones’ Hungarian language dialogue “specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy… The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.”

Corbet, 36, said, “Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own. They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents… The Brutalist is a film about human complexity, and every aspect of its creation was driven by human effort, creativity, and collaboration. We are incredibly proud of our team and what they’ve accomplished here.”

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Jancsó, 42, a native Hungarian speaker, said in his RedShark News interview that “most” of Brody and Jones’ “Hungarian dialogue has a part of me talking in there.” Utilizing Respeecher was a means of speeding up the post-production process, he added.

“It is controversial in the industry to talk about AI, but it shouldn’t be,” Jancsó said. “We should be having a very open discussion about what tools AI can provide us with. There’s nothing in the film using AI that hasn’t been done before. It just makes the process a lot faster.”

The Ukraine-based company Respeecher also used the AI-driven technology for Disney+ to recapture the late James Earl Jones' voice on the series Obi-Wan Kenobi and a young Mark Hamill’s voice in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.

AI technology is becoming a common practice in post-production process, per The Guardian. It was also used to increase the vocal range of Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón. The award-winning Jacques Audiard movie's re-recording mixer Cyril Holtz said in an interview at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival that the actress’ singing was blended with composer Camille's.

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The Brutalist and Emilia Pérez were among the winners at this year’s Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 3, and are in contention at the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards and Critics Choice Awards. 

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