This New Horror Film Used AI Trained on Acclaimed Director’s Entire Filmography

The German film legend and famous documentarian Werner Herzog, known for his insightful portrayal of the tragic story of Timothy Treadwell in Grizzly Man, has always been concerned with capturing humanistic stories that highlight the nuances of what it means to be human. Herzog is the last modern creative viewers would expect to make a film using artificial-intelligence-generated content, but together with director Piotr Winiewicz, the thoughtful filmmaker is defying expectations with a film by AI, about AI. Film Constellation has announced via a teaser from Variety that Herzog’s upcoming project About A Hero was made using a script co-written by an AI trained on his own work, which he approved.

The fictional AI-driven murder mystery will open the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and follows and is narrated by an investigator played by Werner Herzog. Herzog’s character travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate the mysterious death of a local factory worker named Dorem Clery. However, Herzog’s character is not who he seems to be. The film will feature actor Vicky Krieps, of Corsage and Phantom Thread.

About a Hero was produced by Mads Damsbo of Denmark production company Makropol, Denmark’s Tambo Film’s Rikke Tambo, and Pressman Film’s Sam Pressman, which is set to produce Luca Guadagnino’s American Psycho remake. Commissioned by NDR, ARTE, and DR, and developed by Kaspar and Makropol, the film was also supported by the Danish Film Institute, FilmFyn, Cineteam, and associated with Cat Flap Media and Yo Productions. Check out the teaser below.

New Take On Controversial AI-Driven Content Defies Expectations

Films exploring and questioning AI’s impact on humans and modern culture are by no means new to the film industry, with films like The Matrix, A.I., and Ex Machina sparking discussions about the portrayal of AI in fiction. But now, with respected actors like Nicolas Cage warning young actors about the dangers of content created with A.I. to their craft and livelihood, the film world is rightfully worried about the implications of AI use in films.

Director Winiewicz, known for Pyramid (2023) and St. Bernard Syndicate (2018), was inspired to make the AI-driven film by Herzog’s own words: “A computer will not create a film as good as mine in 4,500 years.” However, the film is not challenging The Mandalorian actor’s statement, but rather exploring what it means to create art in a world where AI content is becoming more and more prevalent, and harder to distinguish from human-made content. Having an AI co-write a story about humanity’s struggle in the technology age might be as meta as it gets. He said via Variety:

“This project was never meant as a challenge to what Herzog said, but rather an opportunity to provoke existential reflections regarding our inherent sense of superiority that ultimately lead to technophobia. Because, if at this stage we can’t really tell the difference between machine-made and man-made, are we then as complex as we think we are? Ultimately, I want ‘About a Hero’ to trigger a discussion on topics such as authorship, originality, risks of dis- and misinformation and what our role is in a world where we face the risk of being decentralized.”

The one of a kind, and yet also derivative, About A Hero script is setting itself up to be a, if you can believe it, self-reflective narrative on AI’s effect on humans’ ideas of originality, immortality, and soul in the AI era. It is said to include a collection of interviews with artists, philosophers, and scientists that ponder these topics and hopefully shed some light on a never-ending rabbit whole of trying to find meaning and peace in today’s world.