Darren Aronofsky Says the Netflix Warner Bros. Deal Will Shrink Creative Opportunities, but Believes AI Is Reshaping Filmmaking
When Darren Aronofsky showed up for his talk at the Red Sea Film Festival, he addressed the industry earthquake dominating the week. Netflix’s agreement to buy Warner Bros, along with its film and TV studios, HBO, HBO Max, and its gaming division has reshaped Hollywood overnight while Paramount has launched a hostile takeover bid of its own.
Aronofsky admitted the speed of it all has left him trying to keep up. “I have not digested it yet,” he said. “It’s such brand new news. My sense is it’s not going to be a smooth road.
“I caught a few headlines today. It feels like everyone’s freaking out about it. I don’t want to comment on it because I just don’t understand any of it, and it’s very easy to fall into rally points right now.
“The only thing I’d say is it’s always good to have more buyers. Anytime there is consolidation, it’s bad. We already only have a limited amount of buyers.
“When you want to make a TV show or a movie, you send it out to everyone, and you hope a few of them get hungry for it and get a bidding war of some type that gives you what you need to make a piece of art. Having one less player is always bad. That’s a bummer.”
That concern for the creative ecosystem threaded through his entire conversation with neuroscientist Heather Berlin, where Aronofsky spent time reflecting on how fast technology is evolving and how it is reshaping the creative process.
Earlier this year he launched Primordial Soup, an AI driven production studio designed to give filmmakers access to cutting edge generative tools while also providing feedback to the research teams behind them. The partnership with Google DeepMind is already generating short films and sparking new workflows for directors experimenting with AI.
“It’s evolving super quick,” Aronofsky said. “When I first started seeing the images coming out of the models, I recognized [it] was going to have a big impact on what I do. What is coming out of the models now is content that looks super high production value, it only lasts 8 seconds, and it’s generally meaningless.
“But it’s attracting more and more of the world’s attention because it’s looking better and better. It’s sweeter and sweeter candy.”
Even with that rapid progress, he argued that storytelling is still the heartbeat of cinema. “When you watch a movie, you’re asked to forget about yourself and go on a journey with someone else. That’s the magic,” he said.
“It’s an exercise in empathy and ultimately what makes us a better species and gives us a better chance to survive. I don’t think staring at those little clips for 10 seconds is doing much for us.”
For all his curiosity about new tools, Aronofsky stressed that audiences are not anywhere close to seeing AI produce meaningful features on its own.
“Very soon, it will be able to tell a story in a very basic way, but even though that’s happening, I think a human collaborator can then take that and turn it into art. I think that’s when it becomes interesting.”
He went further, adding, “There will be lots of people playing with it and turning it into something that’s unexpected. And that unexpected turn is something the machines aren’t going to be able to make sense [of].”
A young filmmaker in the audience asked how AI could open the door for more people to create films. Aronofsky’s advice leaned toward experimentation and collaboration. “If I were a filmmaker right now, I’d be in a room with five friends and five computers, figuring out what’s possible.”
He also reflected on how the cultural center of gravity has moved. “There’s something about the golden age of movies when clearly they’re not occupying the same cultural space,” he said. “But storytelling will be around forever; it’s just taking a different form.
“I don’t know that the dominance of the two hour long movie is going to have that cultural power forever.” He pointed to the impact of global streaming hits as proof. “It already feels like you get more cultural power from some of these TV shows.
“Arguably, Squid Game is reaching larger audiences and affecting culture in a deeper way. Storytelling is here to stay; it’s just about figuring out how to get a story into the world and the most interesting way to make it. And the most interesting way to get around is with these tools, and they’re incredibly powerful.”
Before wrapping up, Aronofsky fielded a question about rumors he might be directing a film about Elon Musk. He responded with a grin and a shrug. “Who?” he said. “Elon Musk? I don’t know who that is.”
Source: Variety