Gore Verbinski Says He’s “Troubled” by AI’s Takeover of Filmmaking and Creativity
Oscar-winning filmmaker Gore Verbinski is ready to return to the big screen with his new sci-fi action-comedy Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, but he’s also sounding an alarm about the rise of artificial intelligence in Hollywood, and what it means for the soul of creativity.
In a recent interview with Dexerto, the Pirates of the Caribbean and Rango director shared his conflicted feelings about AI, calling it both inevitable and deeply concerning.
“It’s inescapable. It’s coming. It’s inevitable. I’m both apprehensive and excited, [but] it’s terrifying at the same time, and I think the title of our film is sort of a mantra right now. You can either ignore it, or you can be afraid of it, or you can surf it.”
Verbinski compared this technological wave to something far stranger than any past innovation. “This is a revolution, but it’s not windmills or the steam engine or personal computers. This thing is a digital organism that we’re birthing, and I think it’s inheriting some of our primal flaws in its source code.”
When it comes to AI in the filmmaking process, Verbinski questioned why the technology seems intent on replacing artists instead of improving life in more meaningful ways.
“Instead of trying to solve cancer or take us to Mars or these things that could solve some genuine issues, it’s going after storytelling, it’s going after illustrations, it’s gonna write your song for you.
“It’s like saying it’s gonna breathe for you, it’s gonna f*ck for you. It’s gonna take away … There’s certain things we need to do as humans, like sit around a campfire and tell each other stories. Why is it taking away the things that make us most fundamentally human? Why not go after the jobs we don’t want to do?”
Verbinski believes AI’s next steps are inevitable and unsettling. “I think there’s no doubt that you’re going to be able to go, ‘I want to watch a movie, surprise me. I want to watch a movie that’s, you know, The Godfather with talking frogs,’ and it’s gonna be there, it’s gonna be good, there’s no doubt.
“But what did it just take away? Isn’t there something in us that makes us want to create whatever you love? You love fly fishing, it’ll fly fish for you. ‘No, I mean, I want to go fly fishing!’ I think it’s weird to take away what makes us human.”
He also warned that as AI models continue learning from their own generated material, the quality of their “creativity” may spiral downward.
“I think maybe there’s gonna be something really interesting happening, because it’s ingested so much from the Internet, and it’s spitting back so much stuff, so fast, back into the internet, that it’s starting to drink its own piss, and I think you’re gonna see that sort of two degree little turn,” Verbinski said.
“It’s gonna get quite surreal, really quick. I want to buy an Encyclopedia Britannica pre-AI, to just have. Like, we used to know this shit!”
Verbinski’s new film hits especially close to the themes he’s discussing. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die stars Sam Rockwell as a man from the future who travels back in time to recruit a ragtag group of Los Angeles locals at the iconic Norms diner to fight against an AI apocalypse.
The cast also includes Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, and Juno Temple. The movie is set to hit theaters on February 13, after being bumped slightly from its original January release.
Hollywood’s ongoing tension around AI continues to divide creators. Conversations about synthetic performers like Tilly Norwood, the debut of AI-driven platforms like Showrunner, and directors experimenting with AI-assisted filmmaking have split the industry into opposing camps.
Verbinski finds himself aligned with those voicing caution, alongside Guillermo del Toro and Vince Gilligan, who recently said he sees AI as a “detriment” to human creativity.
Verbinski’s words echo a larger anxiety spreading through Hollywood right now… that in chasing convenience and automation, we might lose the very thing that makes storytelling so powerful… humanity.