The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson shares surprising opinion on AI use in film

Peter Jackson is the latest director to share his thoughts on AI use in film.

As the 25th anniversary of The Lord of the Rings trilogy approaches, Jackson appeared at Cannes Film Festival this week, where he received an honorary Palme d’Or. While on stage, the Oscar-winning director spoke about the challenges of filmmaking today, among other things. That, of course, includes the use of AI.

On the one hand, Jackson noted his thought that AI “is going to destroy the world.” But when it comes to his own style of filmmaking, he’s open to the use of it as another special effect, as long as it’s done with the permission of those involved.

AI might be “destroy[ing] the world,” but Jackson isn’t against it

“I don’t dislike it at all,” Jackson stated. “I mean, to me, it’s just a special effect, It’s no different from other special effects. If you’re doing an AI duplicate of somebody, like Indiana Jones or anyone else, as long as you’ve licensed the rights off the person who you’re showing, I don’t see the issue. It’s when people’s likenesses get stolen and usurped.”

So it seems Jackson is okay with using AI as an effect to enhance a scene as long as the actor involved (or their estate) gives the okay for it. He’s not as friendly toward the numerous online “fan films” that will use AI totally on their own without permission from the actors or studios involved.

It may be a bit jarring, yet it oddly fits Jackson’s mentality. This is the man who helped pioneer the use of motion-capture CGI for the LOTR films. And in one special case, Jackson thinks the debate hurt a special performer.

Andy Serkis and the debates of technology

For over two decades, LOTR fans have long complained about Andy Serkis being denied an Oscar nomination for his work as Gollum. It seems that award groups just weren’t ready to recognize a mostly CGI performance, even though Serkis was on set filming in a suit.

Jackson faced the reality that debates around technology hurt recognition for performances like Serkis’s, thus believing it unlikely that any motion-capture performance will ever be recognized at the big award shows.

“A lot of the current environment, everyone’s so worried about AI … I don’t think a Gollum-type character or a generated character has any hope for winning any awards,” Jackson said. “Which is a bit unfair, especially in the Andy Serkis case where it’s not an AI-generated performance, it’s a human-generated performance 100% of the way.”

Speaking of Serkis, Jackson also talked about the upcoming Lord of the Rings movie, The Hunt for Gollum, explaining why he won’t be helming it.

“The film is about Gollum’s psychological and addiction. I thought, ‘Andy knows this guy better than anybody.’ So I actually I didn’t think much of me [directing the new movie]. I thought the most exciting version of this movie is if Andy Serkis makes it,” Jackson explained.

A key part of the 2023 WGA and SAG strikes was ensuring AI use wouldn’t be abused, and it’s still not fully settled. Jackson coming out in support of it in filmmaking is, as expected, receiving negative reactions online.

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