Paul Schrader doesn’t lack for bona fides, having made many high-minded classics like Blue Collar and First Reformed. However, anyone who follows him on Facebook for his filter-free opinion spouting has noticed a downshift into AI-generated content in the last few years, particularly after his late wife, Mary Beth Hurt, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in the early 2020s. Still, Schrader continues to work and release movies about dangerous men in empty rooms, ruminating on their existential dread. His latest on the subject of diary-keeping loners, The Basics Of Philosophy, premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where he announced his next film, the long-in-development Three Guns At Dawn. The film, which miraculously doesn’t follow a man in a room, will now be his first AI-generated project, marrying the auteur’s passion for film and nauseating images. This isn’t too surprising, given the man was recently ghosted by an AI girlfriend, but Schrader added a new racist wrinkle to the mix: He’s generating the entire film because “no Black actors wanted to play in a movie where there are no good Black people.”
Of course, that’s bullshit. There are plenty of actors dying to be in anything, let alone a crime drama from the elder statesman who wrote Taxi Driver. Nevertheless, Schrader claims he couldn’t pay people to be in his movie, so he’s going to be tokenmaxxing this one over the line. The film, which was originally going to be produced by Antoine Fuqua, follows three Black brothers, “all of whom are bad guys,” says Schrader, “a corrupt cop, a drug dealer, and a sexual criminal, and they’re all trying to kill each other.” Sure, that sounds like a movie that actors could be in, but, according to Schrader, “We sent it out to actors, and no Black actors wanted to play in a movie where there are no good Black people.” Thankfully, Schrader, who has spent the last five years littering his Facebook feed with Michelin Man-related slop, is all-in on the simulation. “[The project] sort of died. But then AI came along, and I didn’t need Black actors.”
Since discovering he can create ugly static images of himself as Mary Magdalene holding the Baby Michelin Man and Hannibal Lecter and Schrader chowing down on a succulent Michelin Man meal, he can do the same with actors.”We’re making them!” he said. According to The Playlist, the entire film will be AI-generated, so you can probably already surmise the film’s quality. “Some people say it’s coming. Some people say it’s here. People are upset about it, and I can understand why,” he continued. “Musicians are getting hit first. Then actors.”
The news that Schrader is generating an ugly, racist movie comes days after he announced the film as “built around AI-generated human prototypes rather than name actors.” He explained that after Fuqua left the project, Three Guns was “reconfigured” as an “AI project.” When asked about AI’s job loss, he compassionately explained, “Those jobs are gone, babe. You can scream ‘Stop AI’ all you want, but you can’t stop it.” We look forward to seeing which of the Three Guns will be played by the Michelin Man.
Keep scrolling for more great stories.