Martin Scorsese might think AI is (meme reference) absolute cinema.
The iconic director has spent decades building a reputation as a staunch defender of human artistry. This week, he is defending himself from the people who used to agree with him.
Earlier this month, the 83-year-old announced he had signed on as an adviser and partner to Black Forest Labs, a Germany-based AI startup specialising in text-to-image generation. The announcement came alongside a promotional video in which Scorsese described a shot he wanted to visualise, entered it into the company’s FLUX generative AI software, and watched it produce images matching his description. The response from the film industry was swift and, in several cases, unprintable in full.
What Scorsese Said About The AI Partnership
Scorsese framed the collaboration as a practical pre-production tool as opposed to a creative replacement. “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,” he said in the Black Forest Labs video. “Now with this tool, I can share what I’m visualising more clearly and efficiently to my creative team — the production designer, art designer, and cinematographer — for them to build on to enrich cinematic intelligence.” He added that during pre-production, “time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.”
He also addressed the broader question of AI’s place in cinema directly. “I’m interested in the intersection of technology and storytelling, and seeing how that can push the bounds of creativity to create deeper and richer experiences for audiences. Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve,” he said.
The Art Directors Guild Response
The most institutional pushback came today from the Art Directors Guild, IATSE Local 800, which issued a formal statement condemning Scorsese’s partnership, per Variety. “Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese is turning his back on the human artists who throughout his career have helped him create his most memorable works,” the statement began, describing his endorsement as “a betrayal of the collaborative nature of cinema.” The Guild pointed out that the technology Scorsese touted as providing “less wear and tear on the crew” relies on copyrighted works from artists like those it represents.
Boots Riley’s Response
One of the most scathing individual responses came from filmmaker Boots Riley, director of Sorry to Bother You and the recent I Love Boosters, who addressed Scorsese’s endorsement on social media. “My guess: at 83, they gave his family a gang of money — they throw tens of millions left and right — he wanted the income stream for them and feels like AI will fall on its face anyway, so he doesn’t give a f—k,” Riley wrote. “If that’s not the case, extra f—k him.”
Why This Matters Beyond Scorsese Himself
Scorsese is now the most prominent and most respected filmmaker to publicly endorse generative AI, and the list of filmmakers exploring or engaging with AI continues to grow, including Darren Aronofsky, Roger Deakins, Brady Corbet, Michael Mann, James Cameron, Paul Schrader, Werner Herzog, George Miller, Doug Liman, Alex Proyas, and Roger Avary. When a filmmaker of Scorsese’s stature and stated commitment to craft endorses the technology, it lends it a cultural legitimacy that a startup press release alone could never bring about.
Martin Scorsese is the director who in 2019 described Marvel films as “not cinema” on the grounds that they did not engage with the emotional, psychological realities of human beings. His comparison that he is simply adapting to new tools as he did with 3D on Hugo and de-ageing technology on The Irishman will satisfy some. The Art Directors Guild’s response today suggests it will not satisfy everyone.