WASHINGTON — Director Adam Shankman is pushing back against a wave of social media speculation that his upcoming film “Stop! That! Train!” relied on generative artificial intelligence for its visual effects, calling the rumors categorically false.
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“Every shot in ‘Stop! That! Train!’ was made by human hands,” Shankman wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “It’s come to my attention that there is some on-line speculation that ‘Stop! That! Train!’ is full of fully generative AI shots and I’m here to tell you this is patently not true. There are a sum total of ZERO shots conceived by AI in the movie.”
The director said the production employed hundreds of VFX artists and that no jobs were replaced by AI.
“The movie is a fully human made piece of joy and laughter,” he wrote, urging audiences to support the film ahead of its theatrical release. “Get tickets now and support all these amazing artists who made this and were paid for it.”
The backlash began after early screenings of the film. The controversy traces back to filmmaker and VFX artist Gloria Cook’s Letterboxd review following an advance screening on May 28, in which Cook claimed the film featured “one of the most conspicuous uses of AI I’ve seen in a film, with a lot of VFX looking like gen AI,” and also pointed to an AI company listed in the end credits. Acme AI and FX is listed as a VFX partner on the film.
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Cook’s review spread quickly across social media.
Shankman, who also directed “Hairspray,” “Rock of Ages” and “A Walk to Remember,” addressed the rumors on social media platforms including Instagram, X and Letterboxd, where the backlash had been most concentrated.
“Stop! That! Train!” is an action comedy disaster film starring RuPaul, Ginger Minj and Jujubee, set for release June 12. The film follows a runaway high-speed train, the Glamazon Express, as it careens toward a natural disaster called a “Stormaganza.” It is co-produced by Unapologetic Projects and World of Wonder, the production company behind “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
A source connected to the production separately confirmed to Out magazine that no generative AI was used in the making of the film.
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