Director Shawn Levy has finished filming Star Wars: Starfighter and is currently in post-production.
The highly anticipated film, starring Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, and Aaron Pierre, won’t be released until May 28, 2027.
“I’m in the beautiful, sacred space of the editing room,” Levy told me at Saturday’s Breakthrough Prize ceremony. “It’s a rare movie that doesn’t have a close release date because it won’t be released until next year. So I’m sitting in the dark, quiet corner of the editing room trying to find the best possible shape for this movie.”
At first glance, AI is not an important tool in finding that shape. “Up until now, I have not incorporated AI in any meaningful way at any stage of the storytelling process, but I have no doubt that we will see the integration of AI over the course of my career,” Levy said.
A prolific director and producer, Levy’s projects include Stranger Things, Deadpool and Wolverine, Invisible Light, and The Adam Project.
“The point that a lot of people smarter than me have been making is to integrate these technologies responsibly, to still have the primacy of the creative voice and not something that could potentially replace that voice, because what we get from the creative voice and the vision. But if we can still use these new AI capabilities to support storytelling in a kind of creative, human-first workflow, I think that’s something to embrace, not fear.”
Levy said regulation is key. “I spend part of each day becoming more fluent in the regulatory options surrounding (AI),” he said. “I think it’s going to be essential, but I think it’s naive and foolish to hide our heads in the sand and act like it’s not just an urgent need, but an essential part of our lives, not just filmmaking, but life.”
In a separate interview at the Breakthrough Awards ceremony, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he believes AI will benefit Hollywood more than it will hurt the industry, even as AI critics worry that the technology will lead to job cuts, illegal use of intellectual property, and more.
“I think people really care about the humans behind the stories and the art and the creative work that is so important. So my gut feeling is that it will go in the opposite direction and people will care more about humans and human creators in the future, not less,” he said.
