"I can’t describe the feeling it gives you": Tim Burton slams AI-generated recreations of his style

One of the most iconic filmmakers of the current era, Tim Burton, makes sure that his work oozes substance and style. Needless to say, the style part of his cinema has always stood out. From his gothic representation of the superhero world in Batman Returns or the stop-motion gem A Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton manages to give the films his own touch. It always seemed that only Burton could recreate something that iconic, especially when it comes to live-action.

However, times have changed and technology has enabled people to recreate things better than ever before. This often leads to disappointing results for the masterminds behind the original style, a phenomenon previously seen with the works of Wes Anderson. The director's works were replicated by AI in various different scenarios.

Not long after, the works of Tim Burton and his style also became an AI fad, with artificial intelligence recreating some iconic scenes from movies in Burton's style. In a recent interview with The Independent, Burton commented on this, saying how disappointing it was to him. He particularly addressed a set uploaded by Buzzfeed, which saw the use of AI to generate beloved Disney characters in Tim Burton's iconic style.

"They had AI do my versions of Disney characters...I can’t describe the feeling it gives you. It reminded me of when other cultures say, ‘Don’t take my picture because it is taking away your soul'," the director said.

In the same interview, he went on to expand on his statement and how he felt that it was "disturbing."

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"What it does is it sucks something from you"- Tim Burton on artificial intelligence recreating his style

When it comes to artists like Tim Burton, their style matters almost as much as the substance. The director's iconic style uses a multitude of different artistic aspects, including a contrast between his naturalistic side and the theatrical side. It has not yet been replicated by any other auteur.

Hence, the use of Artificial Intelligence to recreate other images in ways only Burton himself had, did not sit well with him. The director of Wednesday expressed his dismay at this trend while speaking to The Independent.

"What it does is it sucks something from you...It takes something from your soul or psyche; that is very disturbing, especially if it has to do with you. It’s like a robot taking your humanity, your soul," he said.

This is not the first time a director came out with their frustration about the AI trends. Wes Anderson, whose visual style is one of the most popular ones in modern cinema, spoke about his negative impression of the same in an interview with The Times of London.

"If somebody sends me something like that I’ll immediately erase it and say, ‘Please, sorry, do not send me things of people doing me,...Because I do not want to look at it, thinking, ‘Is that what I do? Is that what I mean?’ I don’t want to see too much of someone else thinking about what I try to be because, God knows, I could then start doing it," Anderson told the publication.

Of course, it seems highly unlikely that such trends will cease in the coming years, with AI seeping into almost all forms of employment over time.

Tim Burton will soon be back with his much-awaited sequel to Beetlejuice.