“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,” Scorsese told The New York Times in a statement. “Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve.” Based on the Times‘ reporting and Scorsese in the video, he doesn’t appear to have plans to use it beyond the storyboarding phase of preproduction, though he does sound pretty enthusiastic about it for that purpose.
“There’s always been this problem of how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew. There are some things you have to see and feel,” he says elsewhere in the statement. “Now with this tool I can share what I’m visualizing more clearly and efficiently to my creative team — the production designer, art designer and cinematographer.” The statement continues, “I recently tested this out on a scene, and the ability to visualize and immediately share the storyboard was creatively freeing. During the preproduction process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft.”
Scorsese’s embrace of the technology comes not long after the Tribeca Film Festival—which was co-founded by his longtime collaborator Robert De Niro—announced that it would screen a totally AI-generated “live-action film,” according to Variety. And while other directors, like Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, and Paul Schrader, have used the tech to varying degrees, Scorsese is most likely the highest-profile filmmaker to lend his name to the venture.
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