Araki Used AI to Erase Freeway Noise From 'I Want Your Sex'
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- Gregg Araki used AI post-production tools to remove ambient freeway noise from a mini golf scene in 'I Want Your Sex,' filmed next to a freeway with Cooper Hoffman and Chase Sui Wonders; Araki said the rough cuts were so loud the AI-cleaned audio sounded like 'crickets,' calling it 'literally insane.'
- Araki said he is 'not a big supporter of AI in terms of replacing actors and writers,' but praised current post-production tools as 'filmmaker friendly' and credited them with revolutionizing effects and editing for 'indie lower budget filmmakers.'
- Araki contrasted today's tech with the early 1990s, recalling how making 'Three Bewildered People in the Night' and watching Rick Linklater make 'Slacker' meant wrestling with 60mm film, loading magazines, torn sprocket holes, and tape splices.
- Araki described Hollywood's current state as like 'the Titanic' with people 'running around,' saying 'old formulas aren't really working anymore' and that he is 'excited for the future' despite ongoing indie distribution and financing struggles.
- 'I Want Your Sex' is co-written by Araki and Karley Sciortino, stars Olivia Wilde as dominatrix Erika Tracy opposite Hoffman's assistant Elliot, and is Araki's first feature film in more than a decade.
Why it matters: Araki—who came up splicing 60mm film in the early 1990s—credits AI post-production tools with making indie filmmaking more accessible, while explicitly opposing AI that replaces actors or writers. His freeway-noise cleanup is a concrete example of the practical, affordable fixes now available to lower-budget filmmakers who previously lacked resources to solve such problems.
