Did Disney blow too much money on hiring Samuel L. Jackson for Secret Invasion? In a new interview with Polygon, director and executive producer Ali Selim revealed that the opening sequence of the new show, which premiered on Disney+ yesterday and sees Jackson back as Nick Fury against the shape-shifting Skrulls, was largely generated by Method Studios using artificial intelligence, seemingly with little to no real involvement from traditional artists. Method Studios declined to provide any real technical details on how the opening credits were created, but Selim, whose other credits include Sweet Land and The Looming Tower, thought it was a great way to echo the themes of the new Marvel Studios show that also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Emilia Clarke, and Cobie Smulders, who’s back as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill.
From a Polygon report:
[…] it looks a lot like if an AI was prompted with the concept of “Skrull cubism” — which, actually, isn’t that far off of what it is. As director and executive producer Ali Selim tells Polygon, the intro sequence was designed by Method Studios using artificial intelligence, something he thinks plays with the very themes of the show.
“When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it — it just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?” Selim says.
Like many people, Selim says he doesn’t “really understand” how the artificial intelligence works, but was fascinated with the ways in which the AI could translate the sense of foreboding he wanted for the series. “We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something. And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change.”
[…] Selim says he was excited by what Method Studios brought to the show: “It felt explorative and inevitable, and exciting, and different.”