Movies
RIP Bill Hinzman
Bill Hinzman, the first zombie to lumber across the screen in George A. Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead, has sadly passed away. Details are slim right now, but it’s reported that he succumbed to cancer. Check back here for any updates.
I never get really sentimental when people in the film world leave us, but I’ve met Bill numerous times over the last decade. He was a regular at the Spooky Empire horror convention in Orlando, FL and kicked off the annual zombie walk almost every year that I went. He was always a cool guy, hanging out at the pool with everyone as the festival started winding down for the evening, and I never saw him turn down a fan for a quick photo in the hallway, an autograph, or even an interview.
He was in several early Romero films – he even DPed The Crazies – but his first scene in Night would set the precedent for the undead in one of the most well-known and highly regarded trilogies in horror history (I count Land as the start of a new one). RIP Bill Hinzman, THE FIRST ROMERO ZOMBIE.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
You must be logged in to post a comment.