Emily Blunt hates algorithms and explains why they frustrate her

Last Updated on April 30, 2024

Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling hit theaters in the coming weeks in The Fall Guy, which is David Leitch’s ode to the stuntmen and stuntwomen of the Hollywood film world. The practice is as old as film itself, and from Keanu Reeves to Gosling, many stars are happy to spotlight the immensely dangerous tasks that these physical performers should be recognized for. Blunt and Gosling are currently doing their promotional circuit for the film, and while they are paying tribute to the hard-working world of stunts, Blunt would also voice her displeasure of a newer practice that takes power away from human instinct and places it in the hands of technology.

According to Variety, Blunt and Gosling were recently profiled in Vanity Fair Italy for a cover story. Here, Blunt explained that algorithms are something she has come to hate. The actress stated,

Some new things frustrate me: algorithms, for example. I hate that fucking word, excuse the expletive! How can it be associated with art and content? How can we let it determine what will be successful and what will not?” 

Blunt continued, “Let me explain with an example. I was in a three-hour film about a physicist, which had the impact it had – the algorithms probably wouldn’t have grasped it. My hope is that Oppenheimer and similar projects are not considered anomalies, that we stop translating creative experience into diagrams.” Gosling would then add, “You can’t beat an algorithm at its job. And this, paradoxically, forces me to be more human, to choose ‘handmade’ projects like The Fall Guy, which is based on personal experiences, our footprints and our stories, which we poured into the characters.”

It was recently reported that director Brian Helgeland pitched a sequel to his film A Knight’s Tale to Netflix. The streaming giant passed on the project when they ran the idea through an algorithm and the results stated it would not do well. “I pitched it to Sony because they own the rights, and it seemed like they were interested in making it with Netflix and releasing it as a Netflix movie. My understanding is that Netflix tested this sequel idea through their algorithms, which indicated that it would not be successful,” Helgeland would explain.