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‘Triplets of Belleville’ Director Sylvain Chomet Fires Back at AI Accusations Over Dior Film Featuring Robert Pattinson’s Voice: ‘Everything Was Drawn by Hand’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Director Sylvain Chomet and producer Aton Soumache say their Dior short film was made with traditional 2D animation, after viewers accused it of using generative AI. The dispute matters because Dior presented the film as a tribute to craftsmanship, while online viewers cited visual oddities, including a six-fingered character, as signs of AI.
Soumache says the seven-month production involved about 20 people, including six animators, and that artists drew the characters, backgrounds and key poses. The team used automated interpolation for a small number of in-between frames, which Chomet describes as a way to handle repetitive work rather than create the artwork. The six-minute film features Robert Pattinson narrating a story inspired by Dior’s history and the shift from black-and-white cinema to Technicolor.
In short
- Chomet says the Dior short was drawn by artists.
- About 20 people worked on the seven-month production.
- Automated interpolation helped create some in-between frames.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Chomet and Soumache’s account supports the view that the film was traditionally animated: a team of artists drew its characters, backgrounds and key poses over seven months, with automation limited to some in-between frames. On this account, the six-fingered figure and other visual oddities are imperfections in hand-made work, not evidence that generative AI created the images.
The case against
Viewers have reason to question the film’s production because some visual oddities, including a six-fingered character, resemble errors commonly associated with AI-generated imagery. Dior’s emphasis on craftsmanship makes transparency especially relevant, and the use of automated interpolation may leave room to ask how much of the finished animation was produced by artists versus software.
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