Heretic is a small, claustrophobicthriller. It’s the story of two female Mormon missionaries who stop by a nice little house belonging to Hugh Grant’s reclusive Mr. Reed one afternoon for an evangelistic meeting, and quickly find themselves wrapped up in something sinister.
Aside from a few scenes at the beginning, and some short cutaways interspersed throughout, the whole movie is set in that house. There aren’t any big special effects set pieces, or many noticeable special effects at all. So, it’s interesting that, to my knowledge, Heretic is the first film to include this disclaimer in the credits: “No generative AI was used in the making of this film.”
Drawing A Line In The AI Sand
Writer-director team Scott Beck and Bryan Woods told Variety that they believed it was important to draw a line in the sand, even if no one would think to accuse their film of using the tech to begin with.
“We have no illusions that when people watch Heretic they’re going to go, ‘Wait, did they use generative AI?'” Woods toldVariety. “It doesn’t feel like that at all, but it was important for us to put that out there because we think it’s something people need to start talking about.”
As an AI hater, I appreciate the gesture as a means to get the ball rolling. Beck and Woods have provided other filmmakers opposed to AI with a simple way to show their support. If this kind of disclaimer becomes common enough that it’s included in the credits of most movies, the ones thatdon’tinclude it will be painting a target on their backs. The average audience member won’t notice, but all it takes is one eagle-eyed viewer spotting the disclaimer’s absence and posting about it. The wrath of the internet is swift, and many film fans already hate generative AI.
No one involved with a movie is going to want to deal with that kind of backlash, especially in a movie-going environment where no one is sure what makes for a hit anymore. If even Joker: Folie à Deux and The Marvels can flop, do you want to gamble that your movie can weather the storm? I wouldn’t want to take the risk.
Anti-AI Disclaimers Are So Hot Right Now
Of course, right now, it’s just one movie. But all the filmmakers who are uninterested in using AI could either see the disclaimer in Heretic’s credits or read about Beck and Woods' decision in Variety, and decide to include that disclaimer, too. Not all studios will be as amenable to that as the notoriously indie-friendly A24, but prior to this, I don’t know that I would have expected A24 to be on board, either. A24 was an early AI offender,using the tech to generate posters for Alex Garland’s Civil War. As MovieWeb’s Richard Finknoted, A24 may have allowed Heretic’s disclaimer as damage control after the Civil War backlash.
But at the end of the day, I don’t really care why Heretic included the disclaimer, I just care that it’s there. I also love that Beck and Woods went nuclear on generative AI in their Variety interview by, fittingly, comparing the tech to nuclear weapons.
“AI is an amazing technology,” Woods said. “Beautiful things will come of it, and it’s jaw-dropping. What is being created with generative AI and video … it’s amazing we could create that technology. Now let’s bury it underground with nuclear warheads, cause it might kill us all.”
