Yorgos Lanthimos has joked he plans to embrace AI – to help him get out of promotional duties.
Yorgos Lanthimos doesn’t enjoy promoting his work
The Poor Things filmmaker doesn’t want to use the technology in making movies but admitted it would be useful if he could have a digital avatar on hand to do his interviews because the publicity circuit isn’t his “passion” and he finds it frustrating having to repeat himself to multiple interviews.
Speaking with Jesse Armstrong at the BFI London Film Festival, he said: “I have mixed feelings about… figuring out what the best way to do it is, because [producers] spend a lot of money and they do have to make it back.
“It’s not my passion to go around being photographed and tell people stuff. It’s almost the same amount of time as making a film — you spend four to six months filming, six months editing and then you have, like, six months going around promoting the film.
“Isn’t there another way? You sit down with your people and they say, [You need to do] this interview, this interview. Can’t you just take out some of them? Do I have to do all of them and say the same thing a thousand times?
“By the middle of the day, I won’t remember the things I’ve said. I’m looking at people like, ‘Did I tell you this?’
“It’s a big part of it, I understand… But especially now with technology, you capture something and everyone has it! Why do I have to do it a million times?
“I mean, AI… I’ll make an avatar and send it out. That sounds really opposite to my beliefs [about AI]!”
Jesse quipped: “First you want a dictatorship and now you want an AI version of yourself to talk about your films.”
The Succession showrunner’s comment came after earlier in the discussion, the 52-year-old filmmaker told him he believes the world needs a benevolent dictator to combat all the bad in the world.
He said: “The way things are going, [we have] ones that are doing the bad things, but [we need] a dictator who does good things for the people.
“Because it seems like, whatever you call it, maybe the left, they haven’t found a way to do this. You need someone who will take responsibility and go, ‘We’re going to do the good things.’ “