Gareth Edwards Says The Creator Predicting 2023's AI Dilemma Was 'A Total Fluke'
As we speak, there's a massive Hollywood blockbuster in theaters that's about Tom Cruise taking on an algorithm that represents an existential threat to the world. Incredibly enough, this is going on at the same time that differing views over the use and future potential of AI remains a significant sticking point for both the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild as they've been forced to enact a two-pronged strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). So if the plot of "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" feels almost a little too serendipitous, then wait until you hear about what Gareth Edwards' "The Creator" is about.
A new trailer for the original (and rather good-looking) sci-fi epic dropped earlier today and the filmmaker is speaking up about the timing of releasing another blockbuster that so succinctly captures our current moment in history. In the August 2023 issue of Total Film Magazine, the "Rogue One" and "Godzilla" director chalked it up to a mere coincidence:
"It was a total fluke. When we started, the Al in the movie was really an allegory for people who are different. But obviously I love science fiction, and I think the best science fiction has meat on the bone. It'll explore ideas. It's usually able to explore things that other genres can't go to in quite the same extreme. And so as soon as you start to have anything AI in your storyline, the questions that come up really quickly are super-fascinating: are they real? How would you ever know? Does it matter? What happens if you want to turn them off? Do they want to be turned off?"
Edwards isn't reinventing the wheel here, but his comments go to show just how much AI has permeated pop culture.
'What started out as a science-fiction movie now feels more like a documentary'
To state the obvious, Hollywood has been obsessed with the power of artificial intelligence going back to the days of "Terminator," "2001: A Space Odyssey" and even further than that. (The honor of the first notable film to deal with artificial intelligence would likely have to go to the 1927 silent film "Metropolis.") So it's not like "The Creator," a sweeping sci-fi original set in the midst of a futuristic war between humanity and AI under the leadership of an entity known as the Creator, is breaking new ground here. If anything, this latest production is taking the baton from countless of its predecessors and (hopefully) delving even deeper into a troublesome, existential, and increasingly relevant concern.
If the marketing footage is anything to go by, "The Creator" is attempting to take a more nuanced position on artificial intelligence through the discovery of an AI child played by Madeleine Yuna Voyles. Edwards echoes that notion later on in the Total Film interview, evoking the viral story of a chat bot conversing with a journalist from earlier this year and noting how far this technology has come in such a short amount of time:
"Being a science-fiction fan, you wonder if you'll ever live to see humans on Mars, or will we ever discover alien life? Well, I didn't think we would have completely convincing Al that you could interact with, like HAL in '2001.' So [regarding 'The Creator'], what started out as a science-fiction movie now feels more like a documentary."
However our real-world battle with AI turns out, "The Creator" is looking more and more exciting by the day. I for one welcome Gareth Edwards' AI overlords. "The Creator" comes to theaters on September 29, 2023.