As Steven Soderbergh journeys back to the late 19th century, he’s taking a big leap into the future to make his next movie happen.
The Oscar winner recently noted that he plans to use “a lot of AI” for his upcoming Spanish-American War movie, which he notes is “a really good story” with Wagner Moura attached to star.
“It’s a really good story, and nobody’s really done it,” he explained to Filmmaker Magazine. “Every day that goes by it becomes more timely.”
Soderbergh added, “I’ve just got to get it cast. I’ve got Wagner Moura. I need a few more people. I have two studios circling, but it’s all about how much I can do it for. But if I can get the right cast together, that will eventize it, and people will feel they have to see it now rather than waiting two months until it streams. It’s a weird time to be making movies.”
Currently finishing his John Lennon and Yoko Ono documentary, Soderbergh also revealed he’s “been working with AI lately” on the film. “It’s worth talking about what that technology might be good at,” he said.
“AI has been helpful in creating thematically surreal images that occupy a dream space rather than a literal space,” explained Soderbergh. “And that’s been really fun because you need a Ph.D. in literature to tell it what to do. But like every other piece of technology, it desperately requires very close human supervision.”
Soderbergh noted that 90% of the doc uses archival stills, while “10 minutes, spread out over the 90-minute film, are these little pockets of images we created whenever they start talking philosophically. When there’s no literal component to what they’re saying, then I create these images that are kind of a surreal version of what their words try to transmit.”
The use of AI in Hollywood continues to be a hot-button topic. Meanwhile, SAG-AFTRA has endorsed the Trump administration’s AI policy framework, which calls for Congress to enact legislation that includes parental controls, intellectual property rights protection, First Amendment protections, expanding AI workforce development, allowing data centers to generate their own power, and removing legal barriers that limit AI innovation.