Emily Blunt reveals she is ‘terrified’ of AI and refused to rely on it during ‘Disclosure Day’

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Actress Emily Blunt has opened up about avoiding artificial intelligence while filming a key sequence in filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s upcoming science-fiction film 'Disclosure Day.'

Speaking during an appearance on 'Hot Ones,' the actress explained preferring a human-driven creative process instead of relying on AI-generated effects for a pivotal scene in the movie. Her comments come as discussions around the use of AI in filmmaking continue across Hollywood.

Emily Blunt opens up about refusing AI during ‘Disclosure Day’ production

Blunt discussed a major sequence in 'Disclosure Day,' in which her character begins speaking in a non-human language during a live weather broadcast. Describing the scene, she said, “It’s a four-minute oner that we shot that leads up to that moment where she’s gradually sort of disintegrating.”

According to her, the production considered different methods to create the unusual sounds required for the sequence. However, she said, “There’s various ways you could do it. You could go the AI route, which I’m a bit terrified of. I thought I could make some real, really strange sounds."

Instead, she proposed recording the sounds herself. Recalling the process, Blunt explained, “I said, ‘Maybe I could come in and we’ll just do a range of weird sounds,’ and it’s what we did.” 

The actress then detailed the sounds she created for the film, saying, “I did sort of clicking sounds. I did sort of humming sounds, consonant sounds, breathing-strange sounds.” To capture the performance, the crew positioned microphones in different locations.

Blunt explained, “What we did was we put one microphone here [by her mouth] and one here [by her throat], and so it kind of captures it in a really weird way,” and added, “Then the sound designer went away and created that weird sound.”

Emily Blunt’s role in ‘Disclosure Day’ and Steven Spielberg’s influence

In the movie, Blunt plays a Kansas City television meteorologist who is overtaken by a mysterious extraterrestrial force while presenting a weather segment live on air. The film stars Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell and Henry Lloyd-Hughes, and is scheduled to arrive in theaters on June 12.

The official logline asks, “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to ... ‘Disclosure Day.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Blunt named Spielberg’s 1975 classic Jaws as her favorite film of all time. Reflecting on the movie’s impact, she said, “A lot of people I know watched it when they were kids.” 

She continued, “I think if you watch it as an adult it takes on a whole different form of storytelling.” She also praised his filmmaking style, saying, “There’s so many beautiful themes that there are in all of Steven’s movies. That it’s high-stakes action and it’s, you know, it’s big-scale storytelling."

Blunt further added, "But I think he has this emotional grounding running through all of it in this humanity. So ‘Jaws’ will be it for me.”