New York, Jun 3 (PTI) Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese has become one of Hollywood's most prominent directors to openly embrace AI as a creative tool by joining artificial intelligence company Black
Forest Labs as an adviser.
The Oscar-winning director, who has made classics such as "Taxi Driver", "Raging Bull", "Goodfellas", "Cape Fear", "The Aviator", "Shutter Island" and many more, said he has been using the company's FLUX generative AI model to create storyboards for an upcoming film.
Scorsese, 83, described his experience of using the AI as "creatively freeing."
"For 70 years, I've been creating my own storyboards. There's always been this problem of how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew," Scorsese said in a statement.
"I recently tested this out on a scene and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the pre-production process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft," he added.
The director, who has previously embraced new filmmaking technologies such as using 3D for "Hugo" and de-aging technology for "The Irishman", said he sees AI as a natural extension of cinema's evolution.
"Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve," he said.
In a video filmed at his New York office, Scorsese demonstrated using the FLUX model to storyboard a scene, also reflecting on how the famous Copacabana Steadicam sequence in "Goodfellas" had to be meticulously planned vignette by vignette.
"If you have a tool like this, you could figure it out much much quicker and you could save production time, and also less wear and tear on the crew," he said.
Black Forest Labs CEO Robin Rombach, who co-founded the Germany-based firm in 2024, told The New York Times that Scorsese's involvement represented "a great proof point that this works."
According to the news outlet, Scorsese was introduced to the firm through investment company BroadLight Capital, which counts his manager Rick Yorn among its co-founders.
Scorsese joins a growing list of Oscar-winning directors warming to AI.
Fellow director James Cameron, known for blockbusters such as "The Terminator" franchise, "Titanic" and "Avatar" movies, sits on the board of Stability AI, a British artificial intelligence company, known for developing and supporting Stable Diffusion, one of the most widely used open-source AI image-generation models.
Recently, "Lord of the Rings" director Peter Jackson said at a Cannes masterclass that he does not dislike AI, comparing it to "a special effect."
However, not everyone in Hollywood shares the enthusiasm.
Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has also expressed scepticism about the use of the emerging new technology. He said he is okay with it being just another instrument in the creative tool box of filmmakers, but he is not comfortable with AI writing the scripts.
"Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo del Toro has been a vocal critic, saying he would "rather die" than use generative AI in his films, and slamming those who believe "art can be done with a f***ing app." PTI RB RB BK
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