Eli Roth's own words on Ice Cream Man, right as it opens.
Eli Roth suggested his new horror film Ice Cream Man (opens today) featured a sequence he'd hand-drawn himself. Then people online spotted credit for an AI VFX studio. Here's what happened next,
His Own Words
Two days before release, Roth's statement: “I misspoke. AI was used in a very small portion of a few scenes in the film. It was an opportunity where technology and creativity came together to help bring my vision for the film to life.”
That's Not the Scary Part
A small portion of a few scenes, in his own words, that's not the scary part. The scary part is what came before the correction: he said one thing, the truth was a different thing, and the internet caught it first.
The Pressure Runs Both Ways
If a 20+-year director with a real audience felt pressure to soften what actually happened with AI (on something this small) what does that say about the pressure everyone in this industry is under?
You'll Feel It Too
A client who assumes AI made your work cheap, or one who'd be upset AI touched it at all. That pressure isn't going anywhere because one director apologized well.
My Honest Take
The correction itself is the good outcome, “I misspoke” is a rare sentence in this industry right now. But the instinct to soften the truth first is the real story.
Honesty Is the Rare Part
Not the AI. The instinct to soften the truth about it.