David Cronenberg on 'The Brutalist' AI controversy: We mess with actors’ voices all the time

Los Angeles: Canadian director David Cronenberg says the recent backlash towards The Brutalist for using AI to enhance lead actor, Adrien Brody's voice is nothing but a campaign against the movie.

Cronenberg attended the London Soundtrack Festival where he spoke on the controversy. He compared his own film M. Butterfly and said that makers often "mess with actors’ voices".

"I must confess, there was a scandal (with) The Brutalist. There was a discussion about Adrien Brody… but apparently they used artificial intelligence to improve his accent. I think it was a campaign against The Brutalist by some other Oscar nominees. It’s very much a Harvey Weinstein kind of thing, though he wasn’t around," he said according to the entertainment news outlet The Hollywood Reporter.

The 82-year-old filmmaker admitted editing the voice of a character in his own film back then.

Cronenberg's M. Butterfly released in 1993 and revolved around a French diplomat (Jeremy Irons) who becomes infatuated with a Chinese opera performer, Song Liling (John Lone).

"We mess with actors’ voices all the time. In the case of John (Lone), when he was being this character, this singer, I raised the pitch of his voice (to sound more feminine) and when he’s revealed as a man, I lowered to his natural voice. This is just a part of moviemaking.”

Directed by Brady Corbet, The Brutalist follows the journey of Laszlo Toth (Brody), a Hungarian Jewish architect, who escapes to America from post-World War II Europe in search of a fresh start. Their lives are changed forever by a mysterious, wealthy client.

The film faced backlash after the editor David Jancso opened up about using AI to enhance Brody's accent during editing.

The Brutalist won three Academy Awards including Best Actor, Best Cinematography and Best Original Score.