Martin Scorsese Bets Big on Generative AI for His Next Film

Film folk love a bit of drama, but who thought AI would end up being the new battleground? After months of strikes and uproar, it’s starting to look like artificial intelligence is just becoming another tool in the kit – albeit one that still ruffles feathers. You’ve got everyone from Ben Affleck quietly flogging his AI outfit to Netflix, to the South Park lads Matt Stone and Trey Parker chatting openly about their AI dabblings. Now, Martin Scorsese himself – yes, the bloke who once dismissed most modern cinema – is having his say, and it’s miles more pragmatic than you might expect.

Scorsese, AI and a Very Specific Endorsement

According to a recent piece in the New York Times, Scorsese is fully behind the use of AI – but don’t expect him to be writing scripts with ChatGPT just yet. He’s interested in one thing: storyboarding. He’s teamed up as a partner with Black Forest Labs, an AI start-up launched in 2022 that specialises in image generation. If the name rings no bells, it probably will soon.

In a video filmed from his office, Scorsese basically walks through the process: imagine a medieval city, narrow cobbled streets, an elderly man behind the wheel of a car – paint the mental picture, and let the AI spit out an image that’s eerily close to what’s in his head. He reckons this will make life easier for everyone on his crew; they’ll finally get a peek at what the director is envisioning long before the cameras roll.

Why the World Cares (and Possibly Panics)

Scorsese is one of maybe five living directors who could spark an industry panic just by saying they liked an app. And storyboarding isn’t just a technical step – it’s creative work that employs people. You automate that, and you’re potentially cutting someone out of a job. But, on the flipside, anyone who’s ever sat around waiting for a decision on set knows how much faster things move when everyone’s on the same visual page.

Scorsese’s taken to calling this process ‘cinematic intelligence’. He even pointed out how, if he’d had Black Forest Labs tech back when he was mapping out that iconic Copacabana entrance in 'Goodfellas', he could have shown exactly what he was thinking – no lost-in-translation moments between director and team.

Scorsese in His Own Words

This is not a bloke dazzled by shiny gadgets; he’s very much approaching AI as a working tool. Here’s how he put it in the Times:

'For 70 years, I’ve been creating my own storyboards. 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. Now with this tool, I can share what I’m visualising more clearly and efficiently to my creative team — the production designer, art designer and cinematographer. I recently tested this out on a scene, and the ability to visualise 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 also pointed out that cinema, at just over a century old, is still finding its feet: 'Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve.'

Context: The Contradictions and the Bigger Picture

• Let’s not forget, only a few years back, Scorsese declared in GQ that the film industry was 'over'. He’s also made a habit of railing against superhero films and the general 'degradation of cinema' these days, so to see him championing even a narrow use of AI will raise some eyebrows, to put it gently.
• That being said, he’s been down this road before – just look at the hand-wringing that went on when he deployed de-aging tech in 'The Irishman'. As a proper historian of his own craft, Scorsese knows Hollywood has always been about adapting to whatever new toys come along (colour film, CGI, take your pick).

What seems clear is that, for now, the lines are starting to be drawn. AI in Hollywood is slowly being carved up into what’s fair game and what’s a step too far, and having someone like Scorsese plugging a specific, controlled use is bound to influence where the debate heads next.