Hollywood’s relationship with artificial intelligence appears to be entering a new phase as Martin Scorsese publicly backed Black Forest Labs, an A.I. start-up focused on image generation, and described using its technology during preproduction on a new film. In a statement and video filmed in his New York office, the 83-year-old director said he is interested in the intersection of technology and storytelling and believes cinema must remain open to evolution as a 125-year-old medium. Black Forest Labs said Scorsese signed on last year as both a partner and adviser.
Scorsese’s endorsement is notable because Hollywood initially viewed generative A.I. as a direct threat when it surged into public use in 2022. The technology can instantly create text, realistic images and video from simple prompts, raising fears that studios could replace writers, actors, animators, visual effects artists and other creative workers. Those concerns became central to the 2023 Hollywood strikes, during which protections against generative A.I. were one of the major demands from more than 170,000 workers. For a time, studios treated the subject as highly sensitive.
The industry’s tone has softened in recent months. Several major figures have begun speaking more openly about working alongside A.I. rather than rejecting it outright. Demi Moore said at the Cannes Film Festival that fighting A.I. is a battle Hollywood will likely lose, arguing that it is more useful to find ways to work with the technology. Tribeca Film Festival recently announced it would screen a film made entirely with A.I., and Amazon MGM Studios unveiled A.I.-generated animated children’s programs the same day. Still, resistance remains strong, with filmmakers such as Seth Rogen and Guillermo del Toro criticizing the technology at Cannes.
Scorsese’s support is carefully limited to storyboarding, the visual planning stage before filming begins. He said he has created his own storyboards for 70 years and has long faced the challenge of translating the images in his mind to cast and crew. With A.I., he said, he can communicate his vision more clearly and efficiently to production designers, art directors and cinematographers. He added that using the tool on a scene allowed him to share a storyboard immediately, making the preproduction process faster without sacrificing craftsmanship.
Black Forest Labs, founded in 2024 in Freiburg, Germany, by Robin Rombach and other former Stability AI researchers, develops open A.I. image models under the FLUX name. The company says its tools can generate imagery from text prompts and support advanced video editing. Rombach said Scorsese’s involvement is a powerful validation of the technology. The filmmaker’s connection to the start-up came through investors and industry contacts, including BroadLight Capital, co-founded by his talent manager Rick Yorn, and Michael Ovitz, who also helped introduce the project to Scorsese.
