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The Goodfellas director has joined AI research company Black Forest Labs as an adviser, the firm announced Tuesday, revealing that Scorsese has been using its FLUX generative AI model to help storyboard scenes on an upcoming film. The partnership makes him one of the most celebrated filmmakers in history to openly embrace the technology.
"For 70 years, I've been creating my own storyboards," Scorsese said in a statement. "There's always been this problem of how do you communicate what you see in your head to your cast and crew. There are some things you have to see and feel."
He argued that embracing new tools is simply part of cinema's natural evolution. "I utilized 3D with Hugo and de-aging technology for The Irishman," he noted. "Now, with this tool, I can share what I'm visualizing more clearly and efficiently to my creative team."
In an accompanying video filmed at his New York City office, Scorsese used the AI tool to recreate the famous Copacabana Steadicam shot from Goodfellas, breaking down how each moment in the sequence had to be meticulously staged and explaining how AI could have made the planning process significantly faster.
"If you have a tool like this, you could figure it out much quicker and save production time, and also less wear and tear on the crew," he said. "During the pre-production process, time costs money, and this allowed us to move faster without sacrificing quality or craft."
Scorsese was introduced to Black Forest Labs through BroadLight Capital, an investor in the firm co-founded by his manager Rick Yorn. CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz, also an investor, helped broker the partnership.
The endorsement places Scorsese alongside James Cameron, who joined the board of AI firm Stability AI last year, in a growing camp of Oscar-winning directors embracing the technology, a sharp contrast to Guillermo del Toro, who has said he would "rather die" than use generative AI in his films.
