Eli Roth’s latest flick Ice Cream Man released this past weekend, and looks set to be the director’s first major genre bomb.
Not only has the film faced a critical lashing, and disappointed audiences, but Roth has now admitted using AI during the filmmaking process.
Previously, Roth insisted that no AI assistance was used during the creation of Ice Cream Man’s sinister animated sequences. It was Roth’s claim that he drew the cartoons by hand, and had them animated into the final film.
However, during preview screenings, critics and audience members noted that AI digital effects company Dark Half was credited on the finished film.
Of course, this raised many questions as to why a generative AI company would be credited if Ice Cream Man contained no AI generated imagery.
Now, Roth has seemingly walked back his earlier comments, confirming AI had been utilised, saying:
“I misspoke. AI was used in a very small portion of a few scenes in the film. Technology and creativity came together to help bring my vision for the film to life.”
However, Roth’s clarification was greeted with severe backlash, many audience members feeling the filmmaker had deliberately misled viewers.
The discourse amplified the continuing fight to keep filmmaking original and free of AI interference.
Undoubtedly, the AI controversy will only prove to accelerate Ice Cream Man’s already poor reception, as it’s admittedly not Roth’s finest hour.
Can the filmmaker rally genre fans for future projects? Or has Roth made the ultimate misstep?
