AI. Artificial intelligence

A. I. Artificial Intelligence (original title in English, A.I. Artificial Intelligence) is a 2001 American film written and directed by by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the science fiction story Super Toys Last All Summer by Brian Aldiss, and incorporates elements from the Italian novel The Adventures of Pinocchio.

The A.I. process originally started with director Stanley Kubrick in the early 1970s. Kubrick hired a series of writers through the mid-1990s including Brian Aldiss, Bob Shaw, Ian Watson, and Sara Maitland. The film stalled for years in development, in part because Kubrick felt that CGI was not advanced enough to create the character of David, which he believed no child actor could play with sufficient credibility. In 1995, Kubrick gives I.A. to Spielberg, but the film finds no moment until Kubrick's death in 1999. Spielberg keeps the script close to Watson's film treatment. The film was generally received with favorable reviews and grossed approximately $235 million. After the end credits there is a small credit that says "For Stanley Kubrick."

Plot

In the mid-21st century 21st century, global warming caused the ice caps at the poles to melt, flooding the coasts and flood cities like Amsterdam; Venice and New York, and drastically reduced the world's resources. There is a new class of robots called Mechs, advanced humanoids capable of mimicking thoughts and emotions. Humans need, due to lack of resources, birth permits, which were very difficult to acquire. For this they create David, a prototype model created by Cybertronics of New Jersey, designed to resemble a child and show love for his human owners. A robot son. They discuss his creation with one of his employees, Henry Swinton, and his wife Monica. The Swintons' son, Martin, was placed in suspended animation until a cure could be found for his rare disease. Although Monica is initially scared of David, she eventually warms to him after activating her imprinting protocol, which irreversibly causes David to love her, the way any child would love a mother. She also befriends Teddy, a robotic teddy bear, who watches over David's well-being.

One day a cure is found for Martín and he is taken back home; a sibling rivalry appears between Martín and David. The first sign of it occurs during a family lunch, in which while the Swintons talk animatedly among themselves without paying much attention to their children, Martín encourages David to compete with him by trying to eat just like Martín does; David agrees and does so despite knowing that, being a Mech, eating food could cause him harm, causing David to break down suffering serious internal damage. Then, one night, Martín convinces David to go to Monica in the middle of the night, and cut a lock of her hair, but her parents wake up and are very angry. At a pool party, one of Martín's friends activates David's self-protection program by threatening him with a knife. David clings to Martín and they both fall into the pool, where the heavy David falls to the bottom while he still holds on to Martín. Martín is rescued, but Henry is shocked by David's actions, concluding that David's ability to love can also give him the ability to hate. So Henry persuades Monica to return David to Cybertronics, where David will be destroyed. However, Monica is unable to do so and instead of her, she abandons David in the woods (along with Teddy) to hide him as an unregistered Mecha. David is captured by the anti-Mecha Meat Fair, an event where obsolete Mechs are destroyed in front of a rousing ovation. David is nearly killed, but the crowd is shocked by the realistic nature (David, unlike other Mechs, pleads for his life) and escapes, along with Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a Mech Gigolo on the run after being "involved" in a murder.

The two set off in search of the Blue Fairy, whom David remembers from the story Pinocchio. He is convinced that the Blue Fairy would transform him into a boy, allowing Monica to love him and take him home. Joe and David travel to Rogue City. Information from a holographic question engine called "Dr. Know" it finally takes you to the top of Rockefeller Center in a Manhattan partially covered in water. They fly to New York in a submersible vehicle called an amphibiocopter that was stolen from the police, at the time Joe was arrested, but manages to free himself by the crowd, and accompanies David. David meets his human creator, Professor Hobby, who excitedly tells David that his search for him was a test, proving the reality of his love and desire. It also becomes clear that many copies of David are being made, along with female versions (Darlene). Saddened, David realizes that he is not unique. He desperately tries to commit suicide by falling off the ledge into the ocean, but Joe rescues him with the amphibiocopter. David tells that he saw the Blue Fairy under the ocean, and wants to get to her. At the time, Joe is captured by the authorities with the use of an electromagnet. David and Teddy take the amphibiocopter to go to the fairy, who is a statue of a submerged attraction at Coney Island. Teddy and David find themselves trapped when the Wonder Wheel falls on the vehicle. Believing that the Blue Fairy is real, David requests that she turn him into a real child, repeating his wish forever, until the ocean freezes over in another ice age and the internal source of power is exhausted.

Two thousand years later humanity is extinct and Manhattan is buried under many layers of glacial ice. A new generation of more evolved, humanoid alien-looking Mechs eventually find David and Teddy, identifying them as robots that met humans, making them unique and special. David is revived and walks towards the frozen statue of the Blue Fairy, which breaks and collapses when he touches it. Having memories, the Mechas use them to rebuild the Swinton house and explain to David via an interactive image of the Blue Fairy that it is not possible to make him human. However, at David's insistence, they recreate Monica from DNA taken from the lock of hair Teddy saved. Unfortunately, the clone can only live for one day, and the process cannot be repeated. David spends the happiest day of his life with Monica and Teddy, and Monica tells David that she loves him and always has when she feels sleepy at the final moment. David lies down next to her, closes his eyes and goes to "that place where dreams are born." Teddy enters the scene, climbs onto the bed, and watches David and Monica rest peacefully together.

Cast

Production

Development

The film was conceived by Stanley Kubrick in 1977 (following the success of The Shining) after buying the rights to the story Super Toys Last All Summer also hiring Brian Aldiss to adapt it as a film, who worked for a long time with a group of writers. After waiting for technological advancement to create a film, Kubrick asked Spielberg to direct the film while Kubrick would produce it. Warner Bros. would finance the production by obtaining the distribution rights. The film was in development, and Aldiss was fired by Kubrick due to creative differences in 1989. Bob Shaw was a short-lived writer, leaving his job after 6 weeks following the releases. Kubrick's demanding hours, so Ian Watson was hired as a new writer in March 1990. Aldiss later recalls, "Not only does the bastard fire me, he hires my enemy (Watson) in my place." Kubrick and Watson took The Adventures of Pinocchio as inspiration, calling A.I. "a picaresque futuristic version of Pinocchio".

Three weeks later Watson gave Kubrick his first ever treatment, and concluded his work with A.I. in May 1991 with another 90-page treatment. Gigolo Joe was originally envisioned as a GI Mecha, but Watson suggested changing him to a male prostitute. Kubrick quipped, "I think we lost the cartoon market." At the same time, Kubrick scrapped A.I. to work on the film adaptation of Wartime Lies (what would have been the film The aryan papers), feeling that technology had not advanced to create the character of David. Subsequently, following the release of Spielberg's Jurassic Park (with innovative use of CGI), it was announced in November 1993 that production would begin in 1994. Dennis Muren and Ned Gorman, who worked on Jurassic Park, they would become special effects supervisors, but Kubrick was uncomfortable with previsualization, and with the increased cost of hiring Industrial Light & Magic.

"Stanley (Kubrick) showed Steven (Spielberg) 650 drawings he had, and the script and the story, everything. Stanley said, "Look, why don't you run it and I produce it." Steven was locked up. »

Producer Jan Harlan, about Spielberg's first meeting with Kubrick A.I.}.

Pre-production

In early 1994, the film entered pre-production with Christopher "Fangorn" Baker as concept artist, and Sara Maitland assisting on plot, who gave it "a feminist-focused fairy tale". Maitland said Kubrick never referred to the film as A.I., but like Pinocchio. Chris Cunningham became a special effects supervisor. Much of his work on A.I. can be seen on the DVD edition, The Work of Director Chris Cunningham. In addition to considering computer animation, Kubrick had Joseph Mazzello in a screen test for the lead role. Cunningham helped make her look like "little human-like robots" for the character of David. "We are trying to build a little boy with a movable rubber face to see if we can make it more unappealable," producer Jan Harlan reflected. "But it was a total flop, it looked terrible." Hans Moravec was hired as a consulting technician.

Meanwhile, Kubrick and Harlan thought A.I. should be close to Spielberg's sensibilities as a director. Kubrick handed over his position to Spielberg in 1995, but Spielberg decided to direct other projects, and convinced Kubrick from staying on as director. The film was put on hold as Kubrick was involved in the project for his last film Eyes Wide Shut (1999) during the last years of his life.; but due to Kubrick's death in 1999, he did not get to direct. Spielberg was approached by Harlan and his widowed sister Christiane Kubrick to take Kubrick's place as director. During November 1999, Spielberg wrote the screenplay based on the 99 page written story by Watson. That was his only writing credit after Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Spielberg remained faithful to Watson's treatment of the story, but cut several Gigolo Joe sex scenes. Pre-production was briefly interrupted during February 2000, because Spielberg was already being considered to direct other projects; such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Minority Report and Memoirs of a Geisha. The following month Spielberg announced that A.I. would be his next project, with Minority Report following. When it was decided to quickly shoot A.I., Spielberg hired Chris Baker as a concept artist.

Kubrick is listed in the credits as one of the producers, and the film was dedicated to him.

Shooting

The original start date of shooting was July 10, 2000, but filming was pushed back to August. Plus a couple of weeks of location shooting at Oxbow Regional Park in Oregon, A.I. was shot entirely using soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios and the Spruce Goose Dome in Long Beach, California. The Swinton family home was built on Studio 16, while Set 20 was used to recreate Rouge City and other sets. Spielberg copied Kubrick's obsessively secretive approach to filming by refusing to give the full script to the cast and the production staff, and prohibiting the presence of the press in the recordings, and making the actors sign secret confidentiality clauses. Robotics social expert Cynthia Breazeal served as a technical consultant during filming. Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law applied prosthetic makeup daily in an attempt to look shiny and robotic. Costume designer Bob Ringwood (Batman, Troy) studied pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip for their influence of Rouge City extras. Spielberg found that post-production A.I. was difficult because he was preparing to shoot Minority Report.

It is the last major film production where you can still see the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, even in a context of two thousand years in the future. This is because its premiere in the United States was on June 26, two and a half months before the destruction of the buildings caused by the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was produced by Warner Sunset Records in 2001. Background music was composed by John Williams and featured singers such as Lara Fabian on two songs and Josh Groban on one. The film's music also had a limited version as 'For Your Consideration for Academy Promotion', as well as full music on loan from La-La Land Records in 2015. The band Ministry appears in the film playing the theme "What About Us?" (although this does not appear as part of the official soundtrack).

Premiere

Marketing

Warner Bros. used an alternate reality game titled The Beast to promote the film. Over forty websites were created by Atomic Pictures in New York City (maintained online at Cloudmakers.org), including the Cybertronics Corp website. There would be a series of video games for the Xbox video game console that followed the story. from The Beast, but they were underdeveloped. To prevent audiences from being confused with A.I. with a family film, no action figures were created, although Hasbro did release a talking Teddy after the film's release in June 2001.

In November 2000, during production, a video webcam (called a "Bagel Cam") was attached to the craft service truck on the set of the film in the Queen Mary Dome in Long Beach, Calif. Steven Spielberg, producer Kathleen Kennedy, and several other members of the production visited the chamber and interacted with fans over the course of three days.

A.I. had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2001.

Premiere

The film opened in 3,242 theaters in the United States on June 29, 2001, earning $29,352,630 during its opening weekend. A.I had a gross profit of a total of $78.62 million in the US, as well as $157.31 million in foreign countries, coming to a worldwide total of $235.93 million.

Criticism

Based on 190 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of critics gave the film positive reviews with a score of 6.6 out of 10. The website described the critical consensus perceiving the film as "a Curious, not always perfect, amalgamation of Kubrick's cold Desolation and Spielberg's warm optimism. (The film) is, in a word, riveting "." By comparison, Metacritic picked up an average score of 65, based on 32 reviews, which is considered favorable.

Producer Jan Harlan stated that Kubrick "would have applauded" the final film, while Kubrick's widow Christiane also enjoyed A.I.. Brian Aldiss also admired the film: "I thought it was an inventive, intriguing, clever, involving film flaws and I suppose I might have a personal suspicion, but it's been so long since I wrote it". Of the film's ending, he wondered what it might have been like if Kubrick had directed the film: "That's one of the 'if's." of film history - at least the ending indicates that Spielberg adds some sugar to Kubrick's wine. The actual ending is too cute AND moreover openly spawned by a plot device that doesn't really give credit, but it's a movie brilliant and of course a phenomenon because it embodies the energies and talents of two brilliant filmmakers." Richard Corliss highly praised Spielberg's direction, as well as the cast and visual effects. Roger Ebert awarded the film a full out of four stars, saying it was "bold, technically masterful, challenging, sometimes moving [and] incessantly watchable. Leonard Maltin, on the other hand, gives the film two stars out of four in his film, writing: "[The] intriguing story draws us in, thanks in part to Osment's exceptional performance, but it takes several wrong turns, ultimately just doesn't work; Spielberg rewrote Stanley Kubrick's commissioned adaptation of Brian Aldiss's story Super Toys Last All Summer Long, the result is "A curious and awkward hybrid of Kubrick and Spielberg sensibilities". However, he calls John Williams' music score 'hitting'. Jonathan Rosenbaum compared A.I. to Solaris (1972) and praised Kubrick for proposing that Spielberg direct the project and Spielberg for going out of his way to respect Kubrick's intentions while doing a deeply personal job.& #34;Film critic Armond White of the New York Press praised the film, noting that "every part of David's journey through the carnal and sexual universes in the final eschatological devastation becomes so deeply philosophical and contemplative as anything by cinema's most speculative and speculative performers:;– Borzage, Ozu, Demy, Tarkovsky." Filmmaker Billy Wilder hailed AI as "the most underrated film in recent years. years." When British filmmaker Ken Russell saw the film, he cried during the ending.

Mick LaSalle gave a largely negative review. "A.I. it exhibits all the negative traits of its creators and none of the good, so we end up with Kubrick's motionless, motionless, slow-motion infinity, combined with Spielberg's fuzzy, hairy mind. LaSalle also considered the robots at the end of the film to be aliens and compared Gigolo Joe to the "useless" Jar Jar Binks, but praised Robin Williams for his portrayal of a futurist Albert Einstein. Peter Travers gave a mixed review, concluding that "Spielberg can't live up to Kubrick's dark side of the future". But he still put the film on his top ten list that year for best films. David Denby in The New Yorker criticized A.I. for not closely adhering to his concept. of the character of Pinocchio. Spielberg responded to some of the criticism of the film, stating that many of the "so-called sentimental" of A.I., including the ending, were in fact Kubrick's and the darker elements were his. However, Sara Maitland, who worked on The Project with Kubrick in the 1990s, claimed that a One of the reasons Kubrick never began production on A.I. was because he had a hard time finishing the job. James Berardinelli found the film "consistently involving, with moments close to brilliant, but far from a masterpiece. Actually, as the long-awaited" collaboration "of Kubrick and Spielberg is a disappointment ". "There is no question that the last 30 minutes are all Spielberg, the remaining question is where Kubrick's vision left and Spielberg began."

Screenwriter Ian Watson has speculated: "Around the world, AI was very successful (and the fourth highest earner of the year), but it didn't do very well in America, because the movie, I'm told In addition, some critics in the United States misunderstood the film, thinking for example that the Giacometti-esque beings in the last 20 minutes were aliens (while they were robots from the future that had become aliens). developed from the robots seen earlier in the film) and also thinking that the last 20 minutes were a sentimental addition by Spielberg, while those scenes were exactly what I wrote for Stanley and exactly what he wanted, shot faithfully by Spielberg ".

In 2002, Spielberg told film critic Joe Leydon that "people pretend to think they know Stanley Kubrick, and think they know me, when most of them don't." "And what's really funny is that all the parts of the A.I. that people assume were Stanley's were mine and all the parts of the A.I. that the People accuse me of sweeteners and softeners and sentimentality were all from Stanley. Teddy the teddy bear was Stanley's. The last 20 minutes of the movie were completely Stanley's, the first 35, 40 minutes of the movie - all the house stuff - was word for word, from Stanley's script. "Eighty percent of the critics mixed it up, but I could see why, obviously, I've done a lot of movies where people have cried and been sentimental and I've been accused of sentimentality, but actually it was Stanley who made the sweeter parts of A.I., not me, I'm the guy who did the dark center of the movie, with the Flesh Fair and everything, so he wanted me to do the movie. First of all, he said: "This is much closer to your sensibilities than mine."

After reviewing the film many years after its release, BBC critic Mark Kermode apologized to Spielberg in a January 2013 interview for "getting it wrong" in the movie when he first saw it in 2001. He now believes the movie will be an "enduring masterpiece."

Awards

Oscars

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards