Stop That Train director Adam Shankman has defended his film starring RuPaul Charles after the filmmakers were accused on social media over the weekend of relying on generative AI, saying such claims are “clearly untrue.”
“Every shot of ‘Stop! That! Train!’ was created by humans!” Shankman wrote in an Instagram post on Tuesday. “There are a total of 0 shots in this movie that were devised by AI. We hired hundreds of VFX artists, all of whom took their own lives to release this movie, and not a single job was left untouched by a human. This movie is a completely human-made work of joy and laughter. Embrace it and enjoy it. Folks, we need some laughs!”
The statement comes after multiple X posts over the weekend claiming the film uses generative AI. In the “Airplane”-style comedy, RuPaul plays President Judy Gagwell, who, along with comedians and drag queens (including “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alums Ginger Mini, Jujubee and Brooke Lynn Heights), try to stop the runaway Gra Amazon Express train from colliding with the fictional natural disaster “Strmaganza.”
“RuPaul’s movies are clearly confirmed to have tons of genAI in them, and the highest paid VFX companies are literally AI-based… It’s a secret blessing that the shit isn’t flowing in the UK,” one X commenter commented.
Another post from X said, “My girlfriend made a distressed sound on FaceTime and I asked her what the problem was and she said, ‘There’s a lot of AI in RuPaul’s new movie.'”
Some of the comments mentioned Acme AI and FX’s work on the film, Village Voice reported. The company, co-founded by former Relativity Media executive Ryan Kavanaugh, touts its ability to help films such as Doug Liman’s new film “Bitcoin” shorten production schedules and cut budgets by shooting on “gray box” soundstages while AI generates location images.
Sources familiar with the production told Variety that Acme AI is only contracted for visual effects work, and that the use of AI is limited to background workflow processes and does not include anything that appears on screen.
The accusations also come after an April episode of Drag Race featured RuPaul “drawing” images of the four season finalists that appeared to be AI-generated, sparking a wave of social media outrage. RuPaul has not commented on the allegations, and “Drag Race” production company World of Wonder did not respond to a request for comment.
