The late Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, once quipped that “all actors must be treated like cattle.” Today, the metaphor feels almost prescient. In the emerging era of artificial intelligence, some actors may not exist in the traditional sense at all.
Hollywood is yet again freaking out over a stunningly realistic AI video—this one involving Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt—that’s gone viral all over social media and now has filmmakers biting their fingernails over what the future might hold for their careers.
The actual video is only 15 seconds long (watch below) and depicts the two stars having an old-fashioned fistfight on a rooftop. Irish filmmaker Ruairi Robinson, who was Oscar-nominated for a short film in 2002, is the creator behind it.
Robinson has stated that the video was created by “simply entering a two-line prompt” into Seedance 2.0, which is owned by the Chinese parent company of TikTok, ByteDance. It’s Chinese state-owned content!
The pushback has been swift: the MPA has attacked Seedance 2.0 as a threat and claimed the video was “infringement.” Meanwhile, screenwriter Rhett Reese (“Deadpool & Wolverine”) posted some worried thoughts on X.
I hate to say it. It’s likely over for us […] In next to no time, one person is going to be able to sit at a computer and create a movie indistinguishable from what Hollywood now releases.
ByteDance has billed its new AI tool as delivering “an ultra-realistic immersive experience.” Since the Pitt/Cruise fight went viral, other videos using the program have appeared online, drawing on IP such as “Lord of the Rings,” “Avengers,” and “Breaking Bad.”
This latest example of AI as “moviemaking” comes hot on the heels of the backlash Darren Aronofsky received for “On This Day… 1776,” his multi-part animated web series from AI studio Primordial Soup that re-creates moments from the American Revolutionary War.
Despite backlash from unions across the industry—not to mention innumerable actors and directors, especially Guillermo del Toro (“F*ck AI”)—there are some notable filmmakers who have actually come out in support of AI usage in “cinema,” including Roger Deakins, Brady Corbet, Michael Mann, Paul Schrader, Werner Herzog, and George Miller.
In fact, something that has completely flown under most people’s radar is that a handful of the filmmakers mentioned above have already—subtly, secretly—used AI in their films, including Miller, who used an Australian company to touch up “Furiosa” back in 2024.
It’s hard to believe, but Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette” was met with boos at its Cannes premiere in May 2006. The film also received mixed reviews from critics and remains “rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes.