Trailer For The First AI-Directed Film THE SWEET IDLENESS and I'm Not Impressed

The conversation around AI in entertainment is far from cooling down. Just days after controversy erupted over AI “actor” Tilly Norwood, producer Andrea Iervolino has revealed The Sweet Idleness, a film not just powered by artificial intelligence but directed by it.

The project is credited to an AI “filmmaker” known as FellinAI, and according to Iervolino, it marks the start of a whole new era in cinema.

The story is set in the year 2135, The Sweet Idleness envisions a future where automation has replaced nearly all human labor. Only one percent of the population still works, performing their jobs as symbolic acts in a society where everyone else enjoys endless leisure. The official synopsis teases a surreal and poetic backdrop:

“The Sweet Idleness depicts a tomorrow in which only 1% of humanity still works, transforming labor into a symbolic ritual, while the rest of the population lives in the freedom and leisure provided by machines. Amid cathedral-factories, mechanical clowns, and surreal processions, the ‘last workers’ become the final masks of a humanity that resists the insolence of labor.”

Iervolino explained that the film is “conceived to celebrate the poetic and dreamlike language of great European cinema” while being guided by FellinAI. He added, “For the first time, the traditional roles of the film industry are being redefined.”

Iervolino isn’t stepping back entirely, though. He describes his position as “Human-on-the-Loop,” essentially acting as a creative supervisor who oversees and maintains consistency in FellinAI’s work.

“Andrea Iervolino takes on the new role of Human-on-the-Loop — the human supervisor and producer who guides, monitors, and ensures the creative and production consistency of the AI process,” he said.

This blend of human and machine is something Iervolino seems especially proud of. “With ‘The Sweet Idleness’ we celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in the history of cinema.

“Our vision is simple and at the same time revolutionary: to unite human sensitivity with the creative power of artificial intelligence in order to tell stories that no one has ever imagined before.

“FellinAI is a director who never sleeps, while Actor+ is a company of actors who live beyond the screen. It is the future, but also a return to the original poetry of cinema.”

The cast of The Sweet Idleness comes from Actor+, a digital talent agency within The Andrea Iervolino Company. Real performers lend their likeness and personality, which are then transformed into AI-driven characters. The company claims these “digital humans” won’t just exist in the film but will continue to “live” online.

“These digital actors, born from the union of human presence and generative technology, will not exist only on screen: they will continue to live beyond the film, through social media, opinions, interactions, and personal content.

The Andrea Iervolino Company defines this new dimension as Digital Human’s Existency, the ‘social and narrative existence’ of the digital actor in the real and online world.”

It’s hard not to notice the timing of this announcement, landing right after the Tilly Norwood AI actor uproar and amid industry tensions around AI during the recent strikes.

On top of that, early looks at the film reveal that uncanny AI quality, with motion-smoothed animation and odd, surreal visuals that don’t look quite right.

Iervolino insists this isn’t meant to replace traditional filmmaking but to exist alongside it. “I would like to make it clear that this new productive approach—led by an Artificial Intelligence Agent as a director, with the involvement of digital actors created from real people, and applied to this project—does not intend to replace traditional cinema. It is, rather, an alternative method of creation.”

Whether audiences embrace it or reject it, The Sweet Idleness is already pushing the conversation about AI in film to a whole new level. If you want to see what FellinAI’s vision looks like, the trailer is already online, and you can watch it below.

I’m not impressed.