His latest film, Ink, may have sparked a backlash over its use of AI in some scenes, but Danny Boyle says it’s “a no brainer” to employ it in future work. Director Danny Boyle’s latest film, Ink, made its UK premiere at the London Film Festival on the 12th October. There, Boyle was inevitably asked ... Ink | Danny Boyle says he’s willing to use AI again in his movies
His latest film, Ink, may have sparked a backlash over its use of AI in some scenes, but Danny Boyle says it’s “a no brainer” to employ it in future work.
Director Danny Boyle’s latest film, Ink, made its UK premiere at the London Film Festival on the 12th October. There, Boyle was inevitably asked whether he’d use generative AI in his work again, given the ripple of controversy surrounding its use in his current film.
Boyle responded that he would, in a brief interview with Screen Daily.
“For animals, it’s a no-brainer,” the director said. “I’ve used real animals in films before and it’s very distressing for them, no matter what their handler tells you.”
Ink made its debut a the Venice Film Festival in September, and some critics soon noticed the tell-tale signs of AI in a couple of brief scenes. Some mice scurrying around an office were brought to life with the tech; slightly more distractingly, the likeness of the late Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (who’s become “my sleep paralysis demon,” according to our own James Harvey).
Boyle’s film continued its festival tour in Toronto on the 15th September, where Boyle and stars Jack O’Connell and Guy Pearce took to the stage for a slightly awkward Q&A. When someone in the audience asked about the film’s use of AI, Boyle replied that, “We tried to be very responsible and make sure no actors were out of work because of it, so we would always employ actors if we were going to use a bit of it. There was about 30 seconds of it.”
Not long after, another audience member appeared to say, loudly enough for the microphones to pick up, “Never do that shit again.”
In London, Boyle remained insistent that AI is “a tool that can be used if there’s a proper and decent way to use it,” but added that the technology’s rapid roll-out is also likely to cause problems.
“It’s moving so fast,” hesaid. “I’m not sure our legislative or advisory bodies can keep up with it. I don’t think the guys making it really know what they’re doing. So, we have to be very careful.”
About the younger years of Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) and how he created modern tabloid journalism with The Sun and editor Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell), Ink gets a wider cinema release in the UK on the 8th January 2027. Look out for the Uncanny Valley Thatcher.
