US actress Maggie Gyllenhaal said using AI in film “fundamentally did not work” for her, admitting she scrapped an experiment with the technology while making her latest project.
The Oscar-nominated film-maker, 48, revealed she dabbled with the medium for her new short film Flesh Impact, which examines dual portraits of Marilyn Monroe on the centenary of her birth.
The 22-minute film sees Dakota Johnson portray the old Hollywood actress at the height of her fame in her 30s while Ellen Burstyn represents an older version of the star.
Gyllenhaal discussed the topic while speaking at The Future of Creativity event in Venice, hosted by Finch & Partners and CAA, and said: “I did try working with AI on this project.
“I have a 100-year-old Marilyn Monroe and then I also have flashbacks to Marilyn Monroe when she’s in her 30s.
“I have Dakota Jackson playing her, who is an incredible artist in my opinion.
“The people who commissioned this project asked me to use AI and I went for it.
“I was like, ‘All right, I’m curious. I don’t know. Let’s see’. And it fundamentally did not work.”
During the event, which was held as part of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, Gyllenhaal explained that she attempted to use AI to place the likeness and face of Monroe over Johnson.
She said: “We worked very hard at it, and in the end they threw it away because what was coming through Dakota playing Marilyn Monroe was so much more moving, human, alive.
“All the reasons we decided to make this project to begin with. It’s an anathema from what I am after.”
The film-maker also spoke about how AI cannot replicate the nuances of human emotion, drawing on examples such as Oscar-winner Jessie Buckley, who starred in her 2026 film The Bride!
Gyllenhaal said: “The thing that makes Jessie Buckley, for instance, so brilliant is her bouncing off the world.
“Her interaction with me, with the actors around her… That’s what makes her a brilliant actress.”
Hollywood star George Clooney, who was recently honoured with the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival, also waded into the discussion.
When asked about whether he fears being replaced as an actor, he said: “As an actor, there will be some portion of that that will be replaced.
“AI will have the exact same problem that I have as a director, and that we all have as film-makers, which is how you make a star, because that’s hard to do.
“So, I don’t think all of it will be completely replaced, but there will certainly be some.”
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