During a candid speech at the Aspen Festival of Ideas, the Oscar-winning actress sparked debate after pointing out Brad PittHit racing drama F1 as an example of filmmaking that felt shaped by artificial intelligence.
While praising the film’s commercial success, Foster questioned the approach to storytelling, sparking a broader conversation about the rapidly expanding role of technology in the entertainment industry.
Speaking to former Sony executive Michael Linton, Jodie Foster discussed how artificial intelligence is changing modern filmmaking.
When the conversation turned to the growing influence of artificial intelligence, Foster singled out one of the biggest box-office successes of the past year: Pitt’s F1.
“I’m not saying that disparagingly, how could I? That movie made millions of dollars, but you look at a movie like F1 and I think F1 was made by artificial intelligence,” she said, according to Diversity.
Foster also added, “Isn’t it? I mean, the structure was exactly the structure you learn in school.”
The actress went on to explain that it wasn’t the technology behind the visual effects that caught her attention, but the film’s narrative and dialogue.
She claimed that the cast performed “the lines exactly as they would have been written if a computer had written exactly what would be correct for the time”.
Foster added that the filmmakers “were able to dominate the technology to make something big and beautiful where a lot of information comes from other places.”
Foster’s criticism comes after Formula 1 took off at the box office and was successful at the Oscars.
Jodie Foster’s comments came despite F1 being one of last year’s biggest theatrical successes.
Directed by Joseph Kosinski from a script by Ehren Kruger, the sports drama stars Brad Pitt alongside Damson Idris, Carey Condon, Javier Bardem and Tobias Menzies.
The film, which opened in theaters last June, earned an impressive $634.1 million worldwide on a reported budget of $200 million to $300 million.
In addition to its commercial performance, “F1” also received four Academy Award nominations and eventually won the Oscar for Best Sound.
Long before Foster weighed in, Kasinski talked a lot about making the film as authentic as possible, emphasizing hands-on filmmaking over digital shortcuts.
Talking to Esquire last year, director Kasinski explained that authenticity was one of the project’s driving forces.
“Audiences can tell when something was done for real and when it was done,” he said, revealing that the film producer had developed a “much smaller and lighter camera system” to capture the racing action.
Instead of relying solely on visual effects, the filmmakers shot scenes during actual Formula 1 Grands Prix.
“Basically, I wanted it to feel like you were actually at the race. So we were shooting scenes at the Grand Prix, and that meant the shooting windows were very, very tight,” Kasinski explained.
He said there were times when the cast and crew only had a few minutes to film a scene.
“The time constraints were a big challenge, but at the same time it infuses the scenes with an energy and realism that we couldn’t achieve any other way,” he explained.
Foster believes that AI should never replace human creativity
While “F1” featured Jodie Foster during the discussion, the broader conversation focused on the growing role of artificial intelligence in Hollywood.
“Artificial intelligence is another giant step forward in changing the industry,” the Fear Room star said before Linton asked a question that many creators continue to debate. “The big question is, will it replace actors and writers?” he asked.
Foster responded candidly, noting, “We’re replacing people.” She noted the increasing use of artificial intelligence to reproduce background performers rather than hiring extra actors, arguing that technological advances should not come at the expense of workers.
“We’re losing a lot of jobs, and hopefully things like unions can come in and say you can use my actor 20 times, but you’re going to pay him 20 times. And I think that’s fair,” she shared.
Jodie Foster believes that filmmakers should control AI, not the other way around
While expressing concern about the impact of artificial intelligence, Foster also acknowledged that the technology can serve creative purposes if used thoughtfully.
“We all wish filmmakers could dominate AI and never lose sight of it,” she said. The 63-year-old drew attention to her recent film Private Lives, which used artificial intelligence during one of her dream sequences.
Although she felt the technology was appropriate for a mystery thriller, she admitted that the AI-generated imagery “didn’t make sense”.
The debate surrounding artificial intelligence has become one of Hollywood’s most polarizing issues in recent years, as actors, writers, directors and studios weigh its benefits and risks.
Not everyone shares Foster’s cautious view, however, as I, Robot director Alex Proyas argued last month that artificial intelligence could indeed help restore what he called the industry’s “broken” manufacturing process.
