philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

‘I see the incredible promise’: on set of an AI film shoot as new studios embrace controversial tech

... But the excitement and energy about AI’s potential was palpable this week at Promise’s new base when a human actor, Tori Thomas, waited for her call amid rows of computers for early shooting on the studio’s newly announced AI-enabled horror film, Touch Grass, with a budget in the low millions of dollars.

The sound stage was little more than a corner of the office hung with white sheets. A small camera followed Thomas as she scrambled in a chase scene, then the AI did the rest. It superimposed her movement in real time on to a field of swaying grass generated by a Chinese AI model, Seedance 2.5, released this month, which looks set to dramatically slash production times.

Whole scenes – actor and backdrop – were instantly visible on the director’s handheld monitor, as if they were filming in real locations. Even the seedheads in the AI-generated meadow moved as Thomas appeared to brush past. In another take, the field was easily replaced by a nightmarish underground cavern. With a glance at the screen, Thomas could immediately see the backdrop she was acting with....

“When we went from optical to digital film, we thought we’d gone to heaven,” he told the Guardian. “It’s like that again. So many things are easy to do. I am an embracer of AI. Some people are wary of it, a little afraid of it, but I see the incredible promise.” ...

George Strompolos, a co-founder and the chief executive of Promise, estimated that hybrid AI films – human actors alongside AI technology – would prove 20% to 50% cheaper than conventional production. That could free film-makers from requiring major studio investment. ...

Joanna Popper, a producer and an adviser on AI to production companies, said the positive view on AI in film and TV was that it “empowers anybody with a talent and a discipline for storytelling to be able to go make what they want to make”. But she said: “The concern is … if five tech companies suck all of the financial gain out of the industry.” ...

Imagine, the 41-year-old studio run by Howard and Brian Grazer, now has an AI studio, Obsidian, operating from space in its Beverly Hills HQ. It has partnered with Obsidian to make The Code, an AI-enabled, Howard-directed animated feature based on drawings made in Vietnamese captivity by US prisoners of war. ...

But AI in Hollywood has drawn comparison to plastic surgery: everyone’s doing it but nobody wants to talk about it. “It’s 100% like that,” Reeb said. ...

Cardoza believes AI film-makers are attracting audiences because, ironically, their direct authorial voice has greater authenticity than in Hollywood where “they turn writing into algorithms”. ...

See the full story here: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/16/directors-embracing-ai-film-making