Fact Check - Does Hellboy: The Crooked Man use AI? Director addresses the claims

Hellboy: The Crooked Man came under fire last night when Jonathan Yunger, the President of Millenium Media, revealed via motionpictures.org that he had utilized AI for its creature designs for an upcoming film. While the internet came together to criticize the studio's decision to do this, Hellboy's director Brian Taylor later addressed those claims.

Brian Taylor confirmed that Hellboy: The Crooked Man hasn't used any AI for its creature designs in the film, and that the movie's titular hero has a completely practical look that hasn't been touched up by CGI enhancements either.

The director confirmed that Yunger was misquoted and the AI claims were about a different film called The Offering.

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Hellboy: The Crooked Man director confirms no AI was used for the film

The controversy first started when Jonathan Yunger, the president of Millenium Media, in a conversation with motionpictures.org revealed that he had used AI to create over 3000 creature designs for a film after he wasn't happy with the way practical effects for a demon character turned out to be. In the quote, he said:

“I was able to make 3000 creature designs in an hour. So now I can start to cherry-pick and edit those and then send it to visual effects.”

However, motionpictures.org made a mistake by stating that this was done for the upcoming film Hellboy: The Crooked Man. With the word getting out there, criticisms were hurled at the film for its alleged usage of AI in the upcoming film.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man director Brian Taylor then quickly jumped onto the scene to dismiss any claims about AI being used in the film and clarified that Yunger was talking about another movie (The Offering). Replying to a fan on X (formerly Twitter), he stated:

"He was misquoted, my man. the comment was referring to a different film, THE OFFERING. rest assured there is zero AI used on HBTCM and our gloriously practical hellboy looks phenomenal. probably the article was written by AI..."

In another tweet he further clarified:

"To be clear: there is exactly *ZERO* AI used on hellboy: the crooked man. both characters - hellboy and the crooked man - were created and shot 100% gloriously practical, as the movie gods intended, with no cgi enhancement... and look AMAZING."

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What is Hellboy: The Crooked Man about?

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is based on Mike Mignola's Dark Horse comic book character of the same name. Mignola has also written the script for the movie alongside writer Chris Golden, and it will be directed by Brian Taylor. Hellboy in the film will be played by Jack Kesy.

The film will follow Hellboy and a rookie BRPD agent in the 1950s who are stranded in rural Appalachia. They discover a small community there that is haunted by witches and also led by a devil known as the Crooked Man who has a mysterious connection to Hellboy's past.

This will be the second Hellboy movie reboot following the David Harbour-starrer that was released in 2019, and the first two Guillermo Del Toro films that were originally released in the early 2000s. Currently, the film doesn't have a release date but it wrapped its filming last year.