Emily Blunt, Ryan Gosling blast Hollywood's reliance on algorithms
Photo: Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling for Vanity Fair Italy
Emily Blunt has a bone to pick with Hollywood's increasing reliance on algorithms to determine a film's potential success.
In a Vanity Fair Italy cover story, she and her "The Fall Guy" co-star Ryan Gosling expressed their frustration with the trend.
Blunt used Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" as a prime example. The film – a biopic with an R-rating, a three-hour runtime, and no action scenes – defied expectations set by data-driven analysis, yet became a massive box office hit.
"How can we let [algorithms] determine what will be successful and what will not?" Blunt asks, hoping films like "Oppenheimer" will encourage more creative risk-taking.
Gosling agrees, adding, "You can't beat an algorithm at its job... this forces me to be more human, to choose 'handmade' projects...".
Nolan himself has commented on the surprisingly massive success of "Oppenheimer", highlighting the audience's ongoing desire for surprising, innovative films. This contrasts with other cases, such as the scrapped "A Knight's Tale" sequel - an idea that reportedly failed to pass algorithmic analysis by Netflix.