Where exactly has director Bennett Miller been all these years? Supposedly, he’s gone down the rabbit hole and become obsessed with the advent of A.I. technology. I don’t blame him—it’s an endlessly fascinating topic that seems to be growing in relevance with each passing month.
It’s been twelve years since “Foxcatcher” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, which remains Miller’s last film. He has been trying to make another one—tackling AI and written by Charlie Kaufman—but the last I heard, Kaufman dropped out of the project, and there’s been no update since.
It also turns out that Miller has spent these past twelve years working on a documentary tackling “how technology has altered our realities in ways we know and, more terrifyingly, don’t yet know.” The upcoming film essentially examines the costs and benefits of AI technology.
Sadly, the doc, which features interviews with the likes of Henry Kissinger, Sam Altman, the Dalai Lama, and Reid Hoffman, has been in post-production limbo due to legal wrangling.
Some good news, finally: in a profile for the French newspaper Le Monde, Miller reveals that the judicial hurdles that prevented his documentary about A.I. from being shown have been cleared up and that it will be screened in the spring.
Miller reveals that it will be shown in an undisclosed New York cinema, but “in a fluid way.” “It will change every night,” with the screening of different segments depending on the guests. He hopes to screen it in Paris, too.
We’ll be keeping an eye on this one, and maybe a Cannes premiere will be in store for it in May.
Miller has directed three features in his strange but fascinating three-decade filmmaking career: 2005’s “Capote,” 2011’s “Moneyball,” and 2014’s “Foxcatcher.” All three were critically acclaimed. It’s time he makes a new film—despite the limited output, Miller is one of the great American filmmakers of the 21st century.