The filmmakers behind The Brutalista possible Oscar contender currently distributed by A24, used AI to change the actor’s dialogue and create images used in the film’s epilogue, the film’s editor Dávid Jancsó shared in an interview with RedShark News.

The epic drama follows a fictional Hungarian architect (played by Adrien Brody) who struggles to create art under the volatile system of American capitalism (and the weirdos who run it). To make Brody and his costar Felicity Jones’ Hungarian pronunciation as accurate as possible, Jancsó says the production used AI from a company called Rep to change the actor’s speech.

Respeecher was able to adjust the actor’s vocals to match the pronunciation of a native Hungarian speaker, though Jancsó said the process didn’t do anything you couldn’t do with traditional dialogue editing. “You can do it in ProTools yourself, but we have so much dialog in Hungarian that we need to speed up the process, otherwise we’re still in the post.”

Generative AI was also used to help create the architectural drawings used near the end of the film, according to Jancsó. Both decisions were made due to budgetary constraints inherent in the production. The Brutalist is a three-hour-plus film with an all-star cast, period-appropriate costumes, and elaborate sets, reportedly made for less than $10 million.

A little over a year after several Hollywood unions strike with the possibility of studios using AI to replace workers, the use of the technology is still controversial, let alone open about it. But the problem is undeniably complex when there are so many different ways AI can be used. “The goal was to preserve the authenticity of Adrien and Felicity’s performances in another language, not to replace or change them and to do so with the utmost respect for the craft,” said Brady Corbet, the director of The Brutalists, SPOKE The Hollywood Reporter in a statement.

Respeecher used to be used to create new Darth Vader dialogue for Disney+ Obi-Wan-Kenobi, and this probably won’t be the last time similar tools will be used to cut costs. Making movies requires a lot of resources, and as companies try to adopt AI, using AI tools will likely remain a viable option to save time and money.