Charlize Theron has walked back comments she made about AI “replacing” film actors after her criticism of Timothée Chalamet.
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In March, the Oscar nominee caused controversy when footage emerged of him telling Matthew McConaughey at an event at the University of Texas that he did not want cinema to end up like “ballet or opera” where “no one cares” about them anymore.
The actor received a lot of criticism for the remarks, with Mad Max Fury Road star Theron among them. She said: “In about 10 years, I think AI is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live. And we shouldn’t shit on other art forms.”
Those comments themselves made headlines, with some criticism of her dismissive attitude toward film acting, given the ongoing controversy surrounding generative AI in the arts. Speaking to Variety at the premiere of her new film Apex on Wednesday (April 22), she admitted she might have been hasty with her comments.
“Honestly, I talked out of my ass. I don’t know what’s going to happen in 10 years, okay? Nobody does. Nobody knows what’s going to happen in 10 years,” she explained. “But I assume that a living, live performance would be hard [to replicate with AI]. And then somebody goes, ‘There’s a dancing robot in Hong Kong’. But he’s not Misty Copeland, OK?”
Regarding the state of the industry as it grapples with the threat of AI, she concluded: “I think we’re all just taking it day by day, and I got to make this movie, and it’s not AI, it’s me, so things are good.”
Recently, the head of the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, Alex Beard, thanked Chalamet, saying that, following the controversy, “our ticket sales got an immediate boost. So cheers, Timmy!”
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