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Christopher Nolan spoke about artificial intelligence in filmmaking during an interview in London, held on the morning of the world premiere of his film "The Odyssey," an adaptation of Homer's epic poem.
The 55-year-old director, whose previous film "Oppenheimer" won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, said younger generations are showing a strong aversion to AI-generated content.
Nolan pointed to filmmakers Curry Barker and Kane Parsons, both of whom built their careers on YouTube before directing the feature films "Obsession" and "Backrooms," as examples of a preference for practical effects over artificial intelligence.
He said both films ranked among the year's biggest critical and commercial hits, describing this as evidence that long-form, mysterious and ruminative storytelling still resonates with young audiences despite concerns about shortened attention spans.
"I've never seen a more rapid wholesale dismissal of a supposedly foundational jump in technology in my lifetime," Nolan said.
He added that heavy investment in AI within the industry has coincided with young audiences "utterly rejecting it."
Nolan also referenced his four children, who are in their late teens and early 20s, saying their reaction to AI-generated material has been immediate and negative.
He said their familiarity with the online world in which the technology emerged allows them to identify such content quickly.
He added that while AI is not without any use, its rise is occurring at what he described as the wrong time for the film industry.
He said years of emphasis on heavily virtual production environments are now being followed by a renewed interest in more tactile, practical forms of storytelling, a shift he said the new generation of directors is driving.
Nolan's own production reflects that approach. He said the film's Cyclops sequence, featuring actor Bill Irwin, combines puppetry, animatronics, optical effects and computer graphics.
A transformation scene involving actress Samantha Morton, who plays the witch Circe, was built around live performance rather than relying on digital effects alone.
Nolan said he instructed the visual effects team to design mechanisms that would let Morton "find things through performance," rather than acting opposite a marker with no physical reference.
Nolan cited the 1981 film "Clash of the Titans," known for its stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen, as an influence on the sequence, noting that earlier filmmakers lacked the technology to render large-scale fantasy elements despite similar ambitions.
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Nolan's comments on AI extend a broader pattern in his approach to technology.
He does not own a smartphone, saying he would become "horribly addicted" to one if he did, and that periods without digital distraction, such as waiting for a train or a flight, allow him to work through creative problems.
He said the spread of QR codes since the COVID-19 pandemic has made it more difficult to avoid smartphones.
Nolan also referenced the no-phone policy at the Vista cinema in Los Angeles, operated by director Quentin Tarantino, which requires patrons to step into the foyer to use a phone, and plays the film's audio track in the restrooms so patrons do not miss dialogue while stepping out. Nolan described the policy as one he would adopt if he owned a cinema himself.
"The Odyssey" stars Matt Damon as Odysseus and was filmed across locations including Morocco, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Malta and the Western Sahara, as well as Scotland, where a replica Norwegian longship was used for sequences at sea.
The film carries a budget of roughly $250 million, and its casting choices, including actress Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy and actor Elliot Page as Sinon, drew criticism from some online commentators ahead of its release.
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