Danny Boyle’s new Netflix movie features a brief shot made using AI, the filmmaker has confirmed. The director has also given his thoughts on the controversial technology and why he decided to incorporate it in the film.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair at the Telluride Film Festival, Danny Boyle opened up about using Artificial Intelligence in his latest biographical movie Ink. The biographical film follows the launch of the British tabloid newspaper, The Sun.
“There’s about 30 seconds of it in our movie where we animate a couple of old photographs,” Boyle confirmed. The Oscar-winning director added, “Oh, and there’s some mice. It’s very good for animals, and we had some mice that run around The Sun newsroom.”
Boyle had previously gotten in trouble with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for using real chimpanzees in his 2002 horror hit 28 Days Later. Since then, the director has avoided working with real animals in movies.
Danny Boyle explains the thinking behind the film’s AI use
During the interview, Boyle also shared his stance on the usage of AI in filmmaking. “It doesn’t really matter what I think about AI,” he said. “It matters what 20-year-olds think about it. It’s the honest truth. My opinion of it is that it’s 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.”
Boyle had previously raised concern about the impact of AI on different industries, including journalism. “The danger with the tech giants and their AI is that they will be able to replace journalism,” the director said at the Venice press conference for Ink last week. “They’ll be able to have an AI journalist who’s much more efficient, cheaper, etcetera, ecetera, and will that AI journalist speak truth to the power that created it?” he added.
Boyle’s new movie Ink stars Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce, Claire Foy, Blake Harrison, Patrick Kennedy, and more. The movie arrives in select theatres in the United States on December 11, before making its streaming debut on Netflix on January 8, 2027.
