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‘Brutalist’ Director Brady Corbet Defends Using AI to Alter Dialogue

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Brady Corbet and Adrien Brody. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

The Brutalist director Brady Corbet is defending the use of AI to alter Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones’ Hungarian accents in his acclaimed film. 

“Adrien and Felicity’s performances are completely their own,” Corbet, 36, said in a statement to Variety on Monday, January 20. “They worked for months with dialect coach Tanera Marshall to perfect their accents. Innovative Respeecher technology was used in Hungarian language dialogue editing only, specifically to refine certain vowels and letters for accuracy. No English language was changed.”

The filmmaker added: “This was a manual process, done by our sound team and Respeecher in post-production. The aim was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or alter them and done with the utmost respect for the craft.”

The Brutalist stars Brody, 51, as László Tóth, a Hungarian-Jewish architect and Holocaust survivor who emigrated to America following World War II. Jones, 41, plays Tóth’s wife. 

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Controversy arose after RedShark News, which covers tech, published an interview with the film’s editor, Dávid Jancsó, on January 11. In that interview, Jancsó said that tools from Respeecher, a Ukrainian software company, were used to make Brody and Jones’ Hungarian speech more authentic. 

“We coached [them] and they did a fabulous job but we also wanted to perfect it so that not even locals will spot any difference,” the Hungarian editor told the outlet, explaining that he recorded his voice into the AI program, as did the two leads. 

“Most of their Hungarian dialogue has a part of me talking in there,” Jancsó acknowledged. “We were very careful about keeping their performances. It’s mainly just replacing letters here and there.”

Jancsó told RedShark News that generative AI was incorporated into the end of the film, which showed architectural drawings from Brody’s character. However, Corbet explained in his statement Monday: “[Production designer] Judy Becker and her team did not use AI to create or render any of the buildings. All images were hand-drawn by artists.”

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At the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month, The Brutalist won three major trophies: Best Motion Picture — Drama, Best Director for Corbet, and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama for Brody. (The accolade came 23 years after he scored an Academy Award for The Pianist at age 29.)

“I am very grateful,” Brody told Us Weekly and other reporters in the Beverly Hilton Press Room following his win. “I’ve had a very blessed career, but as you can see, it’s still a challenge to find work that is as meaningful as this.”

“That you can have a triumph in your life again is incredibly healing and rewarding,” Brody added, noting that the movie “speaks to my family’s struggles and the hardships that they’ve faced.”

Cheerleader Reveals Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Post-Game Routine

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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Michael Owens/Getty Images

A former cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs is offering details on where Taylor Swift meets up with Travis Kelce after his games.

Stefanie Hills, who cheered for the Chiefs up until 2023, shared in a recent TikTok — which is now circulating online, several months after she posted the clip — that Swift, post-game, “would always meet Travis by [his] locker room” at Arrowhead Stadium.

“All those pictures of her game-day outfits walking down [the] red tunnels at Arrowhead are right next to the players’ locker room, which is right next door to the Chiefs cheer locker room, and there were so many close encounters,” Hills said, recalling how she and her fellow cheerleaders had waited “a really long time” outside the locker rooms to get their picture taken with Swift. 

When Hills first learned that Swift and Kelce, both 35, were an item, she could not believe it.

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“My initial thoughts were, ‘There is no way that Taylor Swift is dating Travis Kelce. Like, this must be a publicity stunt,’” she recalled in her September 2024 video. “We’re talking about the same Travis Kelce that just under 10 years ago, had his own dating show where he dated one woman from each state in the United States. … You can see why I was a bit confused.”

When Swift attended her first Chiefs game in September 2023, Hills said that she “almost pooped” herself amid the excitement, adding, “And I’m not even a freakin’ Swiftie.”

@stefhills

I knew you were trouble when you walked in…jk! Slowly becoming a swifty! lysm TS! #taylorswift #nflcheerleader #kansascity #chiefskingdom #chiefscheer #chiefsfootball #fyp #swagsurf

♬ original sound – Stefanie Hills

At the time, “we performed my choreography in the end zone and I looked up, and no joke, she was on the screen and she was clapping,” Hills remembered. “And I was like, ‘She just watched our team dance and is now applauding and she liked my choreography.’ If she didn’t like it, she wouldn’t have clapped.”

Hills’ only complaints: That the pop star’s attendance was driving up game-day ticket prices, and that the cameras capturing live footage consistently panned to Swift rather than the cheerleaders and fans.

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“Which she can’t control and I’m sure she would rather them not show her 24-7,” Hills said. “I personally, if I’m at a Chiefs game drinking, like: Do not point a camera at me. Like, that would really irk me.”

She added: “Because Chiefs games get rowdy.”

Swift has been cheering on her boyfriend — from his team’s VIP section — for nearly a year and a half. On Saturday, January 18, she showed up to Arrowhead dressed in head-to-toe Chanel, arriving alongside her parents, Scott and Andrea, and younger brother, Austin. The rest of the Swift family wore Chiefs-branded gear as they sat with Kelce’s family and basketball phenom Caitlin Clark in the box.

There, Swift burst into a raucous round of cheers when Kelce scored a touchdown during the Chiefs’ divisional playoff game. After defeating the Houston Texans, Kelce was asked by a reporter if his notable performance on the field had made him feel 10 years younger. 

“Twenty-two, baby,” Kelce replied, referring to Swift’s Red song of the same name. 

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