The director of the 3-hour film Dracula says that artificial intelligence is bad and dirty. That’s why he used it
Clocking in at nearly three hours and filled with real-life AI footage (from Count Dracula, the Romanian warlord Vlad Tepes who inspired the famous vampire, and more), the film feels almost deliberately edgy. Judd’s use of the technology has become controversial, with many in the film and creative industries considering generative AI as an affront to the media and their profession. Cheeky, humorous, and ugly AI-generated images are, after all, AI-generated images.
When he appeared via Zoom after a screening at the recent New York Film Festival against an AI-constructed backdrop, one cynical cinephile said Judd himself was officially “cheating.”
Judd finds himself right at the juncture where his films become tighter and tighter. His films have previously used mock executions to explore the suppression of historical memory, pornography to expose the cultural hypocrisy of adult sexuality, and misogynistic gestures to grapple with the appeal of such states. with Draculahe arms the AI with the damn AI? Or – as some purists believe – is bending to use technology at all a betrayal of cinema and the human creative spirit itself?
To find out, WIRED spoke to Judd, who appeared via Zoom from France against the background of an AI-generated image of Donald Trump wielding an AR-15 while riding a cartoon cat.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Wired: Who is that behind you? President Trump?
Rado Jude: I used this image at a European festival where I was asked to give an online talk. Now that I’ve been invited to talk about my film with American friends, I thought I’d offer them something to appreciate. This image was shared by Trump himself when he was campaigning as an advocate for cats and dogs.
