‘Late Night With The Devil’ Directors Admit To Experimenting With AI As Their Film Conjures A Fiendishly Appropriate Weekend Tally
Late Night With The Devil starring Polka-Dot Man actor David Dastmalchian must have made a bargain with its titular entity because it’s scaring up a record-breaking total at an odd time – Holy Week of Easter Season on the Christian calendar.
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We will get to that, but first, there is a different controversy surrounding the satanic thriller that is more mundane. Some have accused its makers of incorporating AI-generated images to serve as interstitial title cards when the production could’ve hired an affordable graphic artist – God willing.
Initially, this story was considered speculation, but the directors, the Cairnes brothers, must have felt the heat. They confessed in a statement to Variety that they did indeed experiment with generative AI to make a couple of Halloween-themed pictures.
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“In conjunction with our amazing graphics and production design team, all of whom worked tirelessly to give this film the 70s aesthetic we had always imagined, we experimented with AI for three still images which we edited further and ultimately [appeared] as very brief interstitials in the film,” they explained.
“We feel incredibly fortunate to have had such a talented and passionate cast, crew and producing team go above and beyond to help bring this film to life. We can’t wait for everyone to see it for themselves this weekend,” the duo added.
Many people went to see it as Late Night With The Devil is breaking records for the indie label IFC Films. Their found-footage Shudder release made $2.8 million over the weekend with $666,666 of that total coming in on Sunday.
You read that correctly. As gimmicky or phony as the Sunday number looks, it is legit according to Variety. In all, the film is officially IFC’s highest-grossing release ever, leaving 2022’s Watcher and its measly $826,700 in the dust.
“This weekend’s release of Late Night with the Devil set fire to our old opening record,” said Scott Shooman of AMC Network Films, the parent of Shudder. “[It] continues to showcase that there is still potential for highly reviewed, intelligent auteur films in movie theaters across all genres.”
Success aside, the debate over the use of AI in cinema continues, and Late Night’s star Dastmalchian thinks it’s a conversation worth having. However, while he says as much in the clip below, the actor also makes clear that he stands by the creative choices of the Cairneses.
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