Love him or hate him, Nicolas Winding Refn continues to be a voice of sanity in a film industry beset by upheaval. Variety reports that the Danish auteur went off again about what ails cinema today at the Venice Film Festival in a tribute to Ruggero Deodato. And Refn didn’t hold back, bashing streamers for being “overfunded and rotten with money and cocaine,” and rallying against the integration of AI into the movie industry.
“It’s incredibly sad and terrifying because art is essentially the only thing – besides, you know, sex, water and happiness — that makes us exist,” Refn said about the rise of streaming in the movie business. The director walked back previous comments that cinema was dead to instead claim it’s something to be recused from streamers who have “kind of saturated everything” and “devalued content to just a swipe.” “Even though I projected it was dead a few years ago, it has changed into something we have to fight for,” he continued. “Theatrical movies are part of what makes us human and experience creativity.”
Refn also had some remarks about AI, adding that it’s “certainly something affecting our industry.” “AI is not an artist,” said the Dane, “AI is a product.” Refn criticized the use of AI in screenwriting to IndieWire back in July, claiming that when he tried to use ChatGPT while writing a script it told him to “seek professional help.” “If you start asking questions that are controversial or themes that are not acceptable anymore, [ChatGPT] shuts down,” Refn said. “I very quickly ran into the problem that every time I would ask it things, it came back saying ‘I’m not able to comment on that’ or ‘seek professional help’ or ‘call this hotline,’ almost. And I was like, well, maybe that’s the problem. That’s the whole reason why we’re doing it is wrong.”
In the same talk with IndieWire, Refn also announced his solidarity with the striking WGA and SAG-AFTRA guild members, advocating a more intentional cinema beyong the “empty” content creation chapmioned by streamers. “I’m all for it,” he said of the strikes. “Burn it all down to make it emerge again, almost. And I think in terms of what’s happening right now in the industry, business-wise, I think it’s just another piece of a global problem of just the inequalities, and the lack of sharing of opportunities, is just rising above what people are able to accept. Look at your own [U.S.] presidencies for the last 10 to 15 years. So what happened? And yet no one really learns from it. So all you can really do is go back and look at the French Revolution and remember what they did at the end: They chopped off everyone’s head, and I think we should try to avoid that finale.”
What’s Refn been up to lately? Well, he’s filmed a series adaptation of the “The Famous Five” kids books for BBC, which should be on the way soon. And earlier this year, his series “Copenhagen Cowboy” premiered on Netflix. Refn also told the crowd at Venice that he’s hard at work on a new movie, but didn’t give any specific details.