Danny Boyle Confirms He Used AI in His New Movie "Ink": How Much AI Is Really in the New Film?

Danny Boyle has confirmed that his new film "Ink," which opened the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, does contain generative AI - though only briefly.

"There's about 30 seconds of it in our movie where we animate a couple of old photographs," the Oscar-winning director told Vanity Fair, explaining that the AI was used to bring archival images of the Kray twins and former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to life on screen. Boyle also noted AI was used for a scene involving mice running through a newsroom, joking that it's "very good for animals" and adding that he's avoided using real animals in his films since running into trouble with PETA years earlier.

"Ink," written by James Graham and starring Jack O'Connell, Guy Pearce, and Claire Foy, tells the story of the 1969 launch of the UK tabloid The Sun under editor Larry Lamb. The film received a five-minute standing ovation at its Venice premiere and has drawn strong reviews.

The irony hasn't been lost on critics: a film about how a scrappy tabloid reshaped the public's relationship with truth was itself built using a technology now reshaping that same question. Boyle addressed this directly at the Venice press conference, voicing concern over whether journalism and "speaking truth to power" can survive the pressures of AI and digital media - a question that, in one form or another, has been asked for as long as people have had to decide what to believe.

"Ink" releases in US theaters December 11, before streaming on Netflix in January.

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