Gareth Edwards on The Creator Character: ‘The Oppenheimer Of A.I.’

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Gareth Edwards on The Creator Character: ‘The Oppenheimer Of A.I.’

Gareth Edwards is tackling the dangers of A.I. in his new sci-fi epic, The Creator. The identity of the titular Creator, the scientist who developed the A.I. technology, is one of the mysteries in the film. Because of the global divide created by A.I., Edwards compares the Creator to another famous scientist who changed the world: J. Robert Oppenheimer.

“They’re the Oppenheimer of A.I., and there’s been this big manhunt for them for years,” Edwards said in an interview with Empire. “On one side of the world, they’re an Osama Bin Laden figure — public enemy number one. On the other [New Asia], they’re a god, a messiah, and people will fight to the death to defend them.”

In determining how to present the A.I. robots, Edwards did not want to blur the lines between human and android, making the audience question one’s true identity. One of the best examples of this trope happens in Alien when Ash is revealed to be an android.

“I wanted to take that off the table,” Edwards explained. “In this film, it’s visually very clear who is AI and who isn’t. Even with the more humanoid ones.”

Who is Involved in The Creator?

John David Washington stars as Joshua, an elite operative tasked with killing the Creator. However, his mission is compromised when he discovers the Creator’s weapon is an A.I. designed as a child named Alfie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles). The Creator’s ensemble includes Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Ralph Ineson, Marc Menchaca, Veronica Ngo, and Allison Janney.

“Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself,” the official synopsis reads. “Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.”

The Creator is directed by Edward from a screenplay he co-wrote with Chris Weitz. Kiri Hart, Jim Spencer, and Arnon Milchan are set to produce alongside Edwards.

The Creator is scheduled to be released in theaters on September 29, 2023.