A film production company that helped make “Blade Runner 2049” has sued Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk for using an AI-generated image resembling a scene from the science fiction movie to market Tesla’s new robotaxis.
Alcon Entertainment said it refused all permissions but Tesla allegedly used artificial intelligence to “do it all anyway” when the carmaker unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi on Oct. 10 during a live-streamed event at a Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank, California.
After pulling up to the stage in one of the company’s “Cybercabs,” Musk gave a speech that included a brief reference to the movie franchise. As he spoke, a screen showed an image of a man in a long coat looking over an orange-tinted ruined city. Alcon claims it resembles a key scene in which star Ryan Gosling arrives by “quasi-sentient flying car” to an abandoned Las Vegas.
“I love Blade Runner, but I don’t know if we want that future,” Musk said. “I think we want that duster he’s wearing, but not the bleak apocalypse.”
A copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Alcon this week in a Southern California federal court alleges that defendants had asked permission to use images from the movie “mere hours” before the event but Alcon “refused all permissions and adamantly objected.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Alcon is also suing Warner Bros, the movie’s distributor that hosted Musk’s robotaxi event. Warner Bros. Discovery didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Alcon, which is working on a spinoff “Blade Runner 2099” series for Amazon, said it is in talks with automakers about brand collaborations but has avoided affiliating with Tesla because of Musk’s “extreme political and social views” and his “massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech.”
Zoe Saldaรฑa to be honored with American Riviera Award at Santa Barbara Film Fest
Zoe Saldaรฑa will be honored with the American Riviera Award at the 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). Saldaรฑa is set to receive the award on Friday, February 7, 2025 at an in-person conversation about her career, leading up to her acclaimed performance this year as Rita Moro Castro in Netflixโs Emilia Perez. This marked one of her most transformative roles to date, and adds another unique facet to her career.
โZoe Saldaรฑa has a fantastic filmography worth celebrating any year, but her commanding and stouthearted performance in Emilia Perez makes our tribute to her imperative,โ remarked SBIFFโs executive director Roger Durling.
Saldaรฑaโs career spans more than 20 years as an actor and producer. She is the only actor in history to have starred in four films that have grossed over $2 billion and the top three highest grossing films of all time--Avatar, Avatar: The Way of Water and Marvel Studiosโ Avengers: Endgame.
Most recently, Saldaรฑa led and executive produced the independent film The Absence of Eden, directed by Marco Perego in his feature film debut, and currently stars in Taylor Sheridanโs undercover CIA drama series Lioness for Paramount+, which she also executive produces with her production company Cinestar Pictures. Saldaรฑa can next be seen starring in the Spanish-language musical crime comedy from Jacques Audiard, Emilia Perez, which premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and took home the Jury Prize. Saldaรฑa received the festivalโs prestigious Best Actress Award alongside the female ensemble and Netflix will release the film in theaters this fall.
From renegade auteur Jacques Audiard comes Emilia... Read More