The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT has caused quite the stir in recent months about just how much it could become entwined in the entertainment business, which has caused it to be a key issue in the current writers' strike. But Julia Louis-Drefyus is confident that the technology is not capable of creating something like her new movie, You Hurt My Feelings.
Written and directed by Oscar-nominee Nicole Holofcener, You Hurt My Feelings tells the story of novelist Beth (Louis-Dreyfus), whose marriage is flipped upside down when she overhears her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) give his honest reaction to her latest book.
Releasing in the US on May 26, it is the kind of adult-focused alternative to the typical summer blockbuster movie and was ranked No. 3 on What to Watch's most anticipated indie movies of the summer.
Louis-Dreyfus, speaking with Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday during a live interview, called You Hurt My Feelings "the kind of entertainment that I love, sort of adult, thoughtful films." Hornaday later brought up that "this is exactly the kind of movie that ChatGPT cannot write" (referring to the popular AI platform), which Louis-Dreyfus definitely agreed with.
"Yeah, ChatGPT has no place on this film… would not be a [sic] welcome in the writers' room," she said.
Louis-Dreyfus backed up that statement multiple times during the interview, as she praised the work of Holofcener, who she had previously worked with on the 2013 movie Enough Said.
"Nicole is so skilled, really, I think, genius at exploring character and the minutia in human relationships," said Louis-Dreyfus. "Very often, her movies have small behavioral bits and bobs that really speak to much larger issues."
The Veep star also said that Holofcener is skilled at writing to her actors, noting that because of their relationship off screen, she was able to infuse the character of Beth with some of Louis-Dreyfus' quirks. "I think she writes towards sort of behaviors of mine a lot of the time."
Menzies was also participating in the interview and praised Holofcener's gifts as a writer.
"She just thinks very deeply about character and intentions and then how that plays out in their behavior," he said. "She's just a very, very good writer, and it's also properly funny from the get-go."
You Hurt My Feelings, which first premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, has a 95% "Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes as of publication. It premieres exclusively in US movie theaters on May 26.
