Tom Cruise battles Brad Pitt: AI-generated video causes a stir
Deadpool writer is alarmed: "It's likely over for us"
A video featuring AI-generated versions of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt is currently going viral on social media — and putting Hollywood on high alert. In the clip, the deceptively realistic-looking versions of the two stars face each other on a battered bridge. They run towards each other and suddenly fists start flying. A fierce exchange of blows begins. Two evenly matched opponents. For 15 seconds. Then it abruptly ends.
The short video was created entirely with artificial intelligence. It was posted by Irish filmmaker Ruairí Robinson, who previously made a name for himself with short films and was in talks years ago for a live-action adaptation of the anime classic "Akira." In his social media post, he explains that all it took to create the clip was entering a two-line prompt into Seedance 2.0. The AI video generator belongs to Chinese technology company ByteDance, the company behind the video platform TikTok.
Harsh criticism
Robinson's social media post spread rapidly, recording over 1.3 million views to date. Harsh criticism of Seedance 2.0 promptly came from the Motion Picture Association (MPA), as reported by Hollywood Reporter. The MPA fears that unregulated use of the technology poses a threat to the film industry. "By launching a service that operates without meaningful safeguards against infringement, ByteDance is disregarding well-established copyright law that protects the rights of creators and underpins millions of American jobs," said MPA CEO Charles Rivkin. "ByteDance should immediately cease its infringing activity."
Why do we still need Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt when realistic-looking movie scenes can be generated in no time using AI? Why do we still need directors or screenwriters? That kind of questions are asked by "Deadpool" writer Rhett Reese, who also reacted with concern to the video. "I hate to say it," he commented on the AI-generated fight between Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. "It's likely over for us." And by "us," he obviously means Hollywood's creative minds, as he makes clear in further comments. When one user suggested that the quality of such AI videos still leaves much to be desired, Reese responded with a pessimistic prediction:
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. True, if that person is no good, it will suck. But if that person possesses Christopher Nolan's talent and taste (and someone like that will rapidly come along), it will be tremendous.
In another post, Reese emphasized that this development greatly alarms him:
So many people I love are facing the loss of careers they love. I myself am at risk. When I wrote 'It's over,' I didn't mean it to sound cavalier or flippant. I was blown away by the Pitt v Cruise video because it is so professional. That's exactly why I'm scared. My glass half empty view is that Hollywood is about to be revolutionized/decimated. If you truly think the Pitt v Cruise video is unimpressive slop, you've got nothing to worry about. But I'm shook.
Joint film with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt
Whether the battle between the AI versions of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt actually heralds the end of classic filmmaking remains to be seen. In any case, the real Tom Cruise and the real Brad Pitt have already faced off in front of the camera – even if it was quite a while ago. In 1994, the two Hollywood greats appeared together in "Interview with the Vampire." In Neil Jordan's film adaptation of Anne Rice's horror novel of the same name, Cruise played the pleasure-seeking vampire Lestat de Lioncourt and Pitt played the melancholic bloodsucker Louis de Pointe du Lac. The two dissimilar characters didn't exactly come to blows, but they did engage in a few verbal exchanges. To date, "Interview with the Vampire" remains the only film in which the two stars have appeared together.
You can see how AI is already changing Hollywood in our video:
