Late Night with the Devil star “sad” about AI controversy

New horror movie Late Night with the Devil has been mired in controversy this week over brief use of AI in the movie. Now the film’s star David Dastmalchian has weighed in on the issue, saying he’s “sad” about the situation, but equally glad that the industry is having this conversation.

Late Night with the Devil is an acclaimed new horror movie about demonic possession during a live television broadcast. The film hit screens today before it’s fast-tracked to streaming, and in the Dexerto review, we wrote that it’s “a fun horror movie about the dangers of unchecked ambition, anchored by a grandstanding central performance from David Dastmalchian.”

But this week, word got out that test cards and some background designs in the movie were created by AI, which caused something of a furore online, with horror fans threatening to boycott the movie.

The film’s writer-director brothers Cameron and Colin Cairnes released a statement on the issue, and now Dastmalchian has addressed the AI elephant in the room, during a Zoom interview.

“It was a couple of years ago,” Dastmalchian says of the images in question. “I remember looking at them… the only thing that makes me sad is that we had such an awesome graphics and design team and all the artists that were working on making this film so perfect, so it makes me sad that that’s the story that’s getting attention. But I get it.

“I’m absolutely in a place right now where that is something that we’ve learned so much about, in the last few years, since we made this movie. I don’t want it near the creative process. But I totally stand by the brothers. I was there with them a couple of years ago, and this was brand-new stuff – ‘Oh look this cool thing generated and image, and now our artists are doing a thing with it!’

“I think they said it really well, and I stand by what they said, and I completely stand by this movie as a thoroughly original piece of work that so many man-hours went into – this incredible artistic craftsmanship of building the set and building this world. It’s a good conversation to have though. It’s an important conversation. We’ve got to have it.”

Late Night with the Devil is in cinemas now and you can read our ending explainer here. While for more new movies, check out this month’s theatrical releases, as well as what’s new to streaming.