Tim Burton is known for spooky movies like “Beetlejuice,” “Sleepy Hollow” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” but what scares him?
According to the filmmaker, artificial intelligence.
At a preview for “The World of Tim Burton” exhibition at London’s Design Museum this week, the acclaimed gothic horror and fantasy director said he’s no fan of the technology.
“It wasn’t an intellectual thought — it was just an internal, visceral feeling,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “I looked at those things and I thought, ‘Some of these are pretty good.’ … [But] it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside.”
Director Tim Burton said artificial intelligence gives him “a weird sort of scary feeling inside.” (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)
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Burton added he thinks AI is unstoppable because “once you can do it, people will do it.”
The “Edward Scissorhands” director also recently told the BBC that AI is “something I can’t even quite fathom,” referring to a situation last year when it was used to transform Disney characters into his signature gothic style.
“I looked at those things and I thought, ‘Some of these are pretty good.’ … [But] it gave me a weird sort of scary feeling inside.”
“Until it happens to you, you really don’t understand it. But it was quite disturbing: intellectually and emotionally disturbing. It felt like my soul had been taken from me,” the 66-year-old helmer said.
He continued, “It’s like when other cultures say, ‘oh, don’t take my picture, because you’re taking away my soul’. And that’s how it is. It’s something that’s robbing you of humanity. All I can say is, like, I understand these other cultures when they feel like your soul is being sucked.”
Burton was upset by AI being used to mimic his style last year, saying it was “quite disturbing.” (George Pimentel/WireImage)
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The director also admitted he’s just generally not a fan of technology.
“Anybody who knows me knows I’m a bit of a technophobe,” he told the BBC.
“If I look at the internet, I found that I got quite depressed,” he continued. “It scared me because I started to go down a dark hole. So I try to avoid it, because it doesn’t make me feel good.”
Burton isn’t alone in his wariness of AI.
Burton has admitted he’s “a bit of a technophobe.” (Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
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His “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” star Justin Theroux told Fox News Digital earlier this year he doesn’t think AI can recreate the genius of directors like Burton.
“I think when people see this film, they’ll understand that I don’t think there’ll ever be a Tim Burton movie that could have been made by AI,” Theroux explained. “He is so singular in his vision.”
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However, Theroux does think AI will be incorporated into filmmaking in the future.
“I think there will be AI films in the future, or films perhaps written to some extent by AI,” he added.
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“But I think, for the moment, when you have a real … just putting it against a Tim Burton movie, I think it’s very difficult to duplicate what comes out of that man’s head.”
Other stars who have spoken out recently include Nicolas Cage, who warned actors that AI “wants to take your instrument.”
“This technology wants to take your instrument. We are the instruments as film actors. We are not hiding behind guitars and drums,” Cage said at the 25th Newport Beach Film Festival last month.
Nicolas Cage warned actors at a recent film festival that artificial intelligence used by studios “wants to take your instrument.” (Jesse Grant/Variety via Getty Images)
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He continued: “The studios want this so that they can change your face after you’ve already shot it — they can change your face, they can change your voice, they can change your line deliveries, they can change your body language, they can change your performance.”