The Creator takes place 40 years in the future where the United States declares war on artificial intelligence. Simulants, who look like humans after people donate their likeness, go from dear friends to hunted enemies. Congress authorizes NOMAD, a fearsome space station, to track and destroy them around the globe. New Asia harbors simulants and doesn’t consider AI to be a threat. John David Washington stars as Joshua, a grieving soldier tasked with killing their unknown leader and a new weapon that can supposedly turn the tide of war to their favor. Joshua’s shocked to discover that Alpha One (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) is a simulant girl with extraordinary abilities.

Director/co-writer Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) posits that AI will not be destructive even though “we’re technically enslaving them.” He hilariously jokes, “If there is a robot apocalypse, they will now save me for understanding and having empathy with them.” Edwards believes that treating the unknown and those who are “different” with “fear and suspicion” invariable leads to them becoming “the enemy.” The Creator addresses “all those sorts of philosophical questions that were always the stuff of science fiction.”

Edwards developed the simulants as “80s and 90s” versions of science fiction robots with the “Sony Walkman” as inspirations. When you “remove the ears,” the character design becomes “disturbing in the way that it can’t be possible.” He was adamant that they “don’t look like prosthetics” but “feels like somebody you can still hug.” Edwards knew the shoot would be difficult. He needed a lead “who’s going to dive in to 100%” and “didn’t need the red carpet treatment.” The “phenomenal” John David Washington “never complained once.”

You can read our full interview with the visionary Gareth Edwards below.

No Easy Answers
20th Century Studios

MovieWeb: You take an optimistic view of AI, as opposed to The Terminator coming to kill us all à la James Cameron. I’m wondering where does that come from? Why do you feel that artificial intelligence might bring out the best attributes of humanity?

Gareth Edwards: I wouldn’t guarantee it’s going to happen (laughs). I’m slightly hedging my bets. Because if there is a robot apocalypse, they will now save me for understanding and having empathy with them. Basically, if you have a bad guy in your movie, which in our film is AI. The first thing you have to do, especially once an actor is playing one of those bad guys, is try to understand, why they’re actually the good guy, and everyone else is the bad guy. The second you look through the world, through the perspective of AI, it’s actually very easy, because we’re technically enslaving them. We don’t treat them as equals.

Gareth Edwards: There are so many things that make humanity look very evil if you were AI, an algorithm, or robot, or whatever. And so, to be honest, the movie was really a metaphor. A lot of science fiction is allegorical. It’s not so literal. It was really about people who are different, and how we always sort of fear them, and treat them with suspicion, and ultimately, they become the enemy often, and vice versa. I wanted to explore that idea, mainly using robots as the device.

Gareth Edwards: Cut to 2023, like four years after writing the first draft, it took on a whole new meaning. Everything in this movie has this extra weight to it. I thought it was like flying cars and living on the moon, that it was going to be something I’d never seen in my life. And suddenly it’s here, like Chat GPT, and it’s just so convincing when you talk to it. It really feels like it’s alive. It’s all those sorts of philosophical questions that were always the stuff of science fiction. Look at any news homepage, just full of AI articles. How are we going to deal with this? How are we going to navigate the next few years? There’s no easy answers.

Related: The Creator Review: John David Washington Astounds in Blockbuster Sci-Fi Thriller

The Most Important Design
20th Century Studios

MW: I was impressed with the visual effects and production design. The characters, the way that you view the simulants, particularly the back of their heads, is quite unique. Talk about creating them and where you got the idea?

Gareth Edwards: I love the way the future used to look in the 80s and 90s. I grew up in that era. That’s my favorite version of science fiction. We pretended, instead of looking at the Apple iPhone as the device everyone uses, what if, instead of Apple winning that war, the Sony Walkman had won? We looked at a lot of Nintendo and Sony product design, and used ideas in those products as details on all the mech, on the robots’ heads. The fundamental two main things that are going on with the simulants in our movie. The AI, we were going into a lot of trouble to do this, for like over 1000 shots. Whatever we do, I want it to not feel like makeup prosthetics. I want it to be disturbing in the way that it can’t be possible.

Gareth Edwards: In most robot designs, as soon as you remove the ears, the second you do that, there’s a circle left. Let’s just punch a hole through that circle. So it’s very surreal. We also found that connecting the throat skin from the head down to the body was really important. So you remove that, and it’s just a face mask, it sort of projects that kind of AI. There’s something a little bit sinister about it. Whereas when you connect the skin, it feels like it’s not decapitated. It feels like somebody you can still hug.

Gareth Edwards: There are all these little lessons through a lot of trial and error to land on that design. It’s the last thing we ever finalized in terms of ILM [Industrial Light & Magic]. They were prying it out of our fingers to hit their deadline. We knew it was going to get the most attention and be the most important design in the film.

Related: The Creator Cast and Character Guide

Genuine and Down to Earth
20th Century Studios

MW: Science fiction always has visual effects at the forefront. What makes you succeed here is a very human story. The apple did not fall far from the tree. John David Washington is spectacular. Talk about casting him and the young simulant, Madeleine Yuna Voyles. Their relationship is endearing and believable.

Gareth Edwards: I went to meet with John David. He was the first actor I met with. It was during the pandemic. He came and sat down in this fancy restaurant that neither of us had chosen, our agents set it up. We were both like, “Why are we here?” I’d never come here, and vice versa. He came with a Star Wars face mask on. I initially thought he’s doing this because of Rogue One. He apologized and said he’d been wearing it every day of the pandemic. He thought about not wearing it today, but then it felt false.

Gareth Edwards: We instantly hit it off. It was clear we liked the same kind of films. But equally, the fact that he was so genuine and down to earth, the biggest fear I had was going to the top of the Himalayas, volcanoes in Indonesia, and paddy fields in Thailand. I needed someone who didn’t need the red carpet treatment, who’s going to dive in to it 100%, and not be afraid to show weakness, vulnerability, and all the things that these heroic characters do. You never see those cracks in the armor. I was incredibly lucky to get him. He’s phenomenal and never complained once. I kept waiting for just one second of a complaint. He never did it.

Gareth Edwards: Then with him and Madeleine, he just became her big brother. It was very sweet to see. She’s very quiet as a child, incredibly smart, and sort of keeps to herself. But John David managed to be her friend. We would say cut, actors need to walk away from the crew and the camera to stay in the zone. They just walk away quietly somewhere until you’re ready to film again. Every time he would do that, Madeline would jump off the set, and run up to him, told his hand, and talk to him about some toy that she played with. He would kneel down on one knee and get all excited about the toy. It was a beautiful thing to witness. I think all that chemistry, or that love between the two of them, it’s all on screen, hopefully.

The Creator will be released theatrically on September 29th from 20th Century Studios.