Zazie Beetz spoke out against the spread of AI at the Berlin Film Festival press conference for Gore Verbinski’s new film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, which humorously deals with hot topics.
The sci-fi adventure, which will premiere Friday night as part of the Berlinale Special Gala, tells the story of a self-proclaimed “man from the future” (Sam Rockwell) who gathers people at a Los Angeles diner to help save the world from artificial intelligence. In addition to Beatz and Rockwell, the cast featured a strong ensemble cast, including Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Asim Chaudhry, and Juno Temple, all of whom were present at the press conference except for Temple.
Of course, the cast was immediately asked about the threat of AI, and Beatz answered clearly and honestly. “I feel very strongly about AI and all the damage it seems to be doing to the social fabric and relationships of our society,” the “Atlanta” and “Deadpool 2” star said. “I think we need to rally the troops and piss people off and do something.”
Verbinski also has a lot of thoughts on this issue, saying: “You don’t want me to get started on AI. How much time do you have? I mean, I think there’s a lot to talk about. I mean, it’s coming soon. I’m always in meetings with heads of visual effects studios and actors, and everyone’s talking about AI. And outside of my world, you know, geopolitics… ‘If we don’t do it, the Chinese are going to make the money.’ “This is a crazy race, no one can stop, we could go on and on, but I basically don’t want this to get in front of the creative process.”
But like “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die,” the film’s press conference also included plenty of laughs to balance out the more serious moments. During the photo call before the cast took their seats, Richardson performed high kicks and handstands in front of the camera, making photographers and journalists burst into laughter. The conference itself contained some funny moments, including some not-so-fun memories from filming in Cape Town, South Africa.
After Beats said that the cast was together in Cape Town 24/7, “we bonded over trauma,” Chaudhry elaborated, “We bonded over something else too…We were all sick in Cape Town.”
He continued, “One of the titles of the movie was ‘Good luck, have fun, don’t get diarrhea’ because we all had a big D.”
“It spread like a sexually transmitted disease,” Verbinski added, drawing loud laughter from the crowd.
Richardson recalled having to deal with wearing a gown during filming. “Honestly, getting food poisoning in a princess dress wasn’t great,” she said. “It’s a lot of layers.”
