James Gray Calls AI 'Worthless': My Prime Is Right Now
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- James Gray will receive the Pardo alla Carriera lifetime achievement award at the Locarno Film Festival, and despite the honor, insists "I'm not old" and "my best work is ahead of me" — noting Hitchcock at Gray's age had not yet made "Vertigo," "Psycho" or "The Birds."
- Gray called AI "worthless" in filmmaking, arguing it "will never be able to" replicate a recognizable directorial voice, citing auteurs like John Ford and Alfred Hitchcock as identifiable from a single scene's camera placement and pacing.
- Gray argued the pursuit of "newness" is "a folly" rooted in capitalism rather than art, noting Picasso "stole from African art that's thousand years old" and Stanley Kubrick borrowed liberally from silent films for "The Shining" and "2001: A Space Odyssey."
- Gray's 30-year filmography spans "Little Odessa" through the Brad Pitt sci-fi "Ad Astra" and the Cannes drama "Paper Tiger" with Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, who told Gray she was a "rabid fan" of his films and had "checked up" on him to vet his approach with actors.
- Gray described his career position between blockbusters and festival-only arthouse as a "superpower," arguing that films like "Vertigo" prove complex moral dilemmas within narrative are "as subversive as it gets" — and that the middle ground has been abandoned by the industry.
- Gray expressed unexpected optimism about a "cinephile culture that's really exploding right now," noting his son attends sold-out revival screenings of the 1962 Italian film "Il Sorpasso" — a sharp contrast to the "empty" revival houses of Gray's own youth, which he partly attributes to a backlash against AI-generated content.
- Gray credited writing every one of his own screenplays for keeping his directorial voice intact even on large-scale productions, and admitted he feels he "owe[s] the world one or two truly great movies" and "haven't gotten there yet."
Why it matters: Gray's dismissal of AI and defense of mid-budget, author-driven films pushes back against the industry's current split between blockbusters and festival-only arthouse. With Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver actively vetting him out, his insistence his best work is ahead suggests recognizable directorial voice still draws top talent even as studios chase algorithm-friendly content.
