Director Danny Boyle Confirms Limited Use of AI in New Film "Ink"

Director Danny Boyle told Vanity Fair that his new film "Ink," which premiered at the Venice Film Festival before screening at Telluride, contains roughly 30 seconds of generative-AI animation. The brief AI segment was used to bring old photographs to life, including images of the Kray twins and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as well as animated mice running through a newsroom set.

Boyle said the AI tool is "a very useful tool in many ways, provided you use it respectfully and provided you pay actors if you’re going to replace them with some kind of AI embodiment." He added that public opinion, particularly among younger adults, will shape the technology’s role in filmmaking.

At a press conference in Venice, Boyle also warned that AI could threaten journalism, noting that tech companies might develop AI journalists that are "more efficient, cheaper" and questioning whether such systems would serve the public interest.

"Ink," starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy, dramatizes the rise of the UK tabloid The Sun in the 1970s under editor Larry Lamb. The Studiocanal-Netflix co-production is slated for a December theatrical release and a January streaming debut, and has received generally positive reviews, holding an 85% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.