Natasha Lyonne addresses backlash to her AI "hybrid" movie

In a new interview with Variety, Lyonne somewhat clarified how Uncanny Valley would use the technology and to what end, whilst commiserating with fellow internet backlash victim Rian Johnson. The Poker Face star maintains that her use of AI is “all about protecting artists and confronting this oncoming wave.” This is not a “generative AI movie,” she says. In Variety‘s telling, the film will use AI for “things like set extensions,” so there’s still quite a bit of haziness surrounding how the tech will be implemented and to what extent. We’re also unsure how generating set extensions with AI protects below-the-line artists, like set designers, animators, or production crews, but sure, go off.

Nevertheless, Lyonne didn’t like being the target of a backlash, calling it “comedic that people misunderstand headlines so readily because of our bizarro culture of not having reading comprehension.” She has “never been inside” a backlash before, describing it as “scary” and “not fun when people say not nice things to you. It grows you up a bit.” In the initial announcement for Uncanny Valley by Asteria Studios, an “ethical AI film and animation studio,” co-founded by Lyonne and Bryn Mooser, the film is described as a “hybrid film” that combines live action and AI. It would behoove someone in the film’s marketing to explain how the movie will use the technology. Currently, there’s a valley separating “hybrid film” and only using it for “things like set extensions.”