Darren Aronofsky has launched the Original Soup, a new business that empowers filmmakers with creative tools based on AI.
Primordial Soup has partnered with Google Deepmind's AI research team, who are working on short films with three filmmakers. Under the partnership, Google DeepMind is providing early access to the Generative-AI video tool; instead, filmmakers are expected to provide feedback to tech companies on new AI tools to help guide their development.
The first project of the original soup is Eliza McNitt's "Ancestra", which uses a mix of live performances and AI-based visuals, to premiere at the Tribeca Festival next month. Two other films of Primitive Soup are in development. Details about these are TBA, but both will use Google DeepMind's new application of video generation model VEO.
Aronovsky said his goal with the company is to ensure that AI is a creative tool for filmmakers, not a tool that replaces traditional filmmaking. He is the director of the film, including "Pi", "Dream Heart" and "Mother!" Recently, he pioneered the use of the 18K camera rig for "Postcards on Earth," which led in Las Vegas in 2023.
"Film production has always been driven by technology," Aronofsky said in a statement. "After the groundbreaking inventions of the Lumiere brothers and Edison, the filmmakers unleashed the hidden storytelling power of the camera. Later technological breakthroughs - sound, sound, color, VFX - allow us to tell stories in ways that were not previously told. Today is no different.
The news is one of a series of AI-related announcements that kicked off at the Google I/O developer conference on Tuesday, including the "AI mode" that will be conducted on Google's live speech translation and "AI mode" in Google's search. The tech giant also announced a new AI filmmaking tool designed for WEO's generated video models, which Google claims provides "stunning movie output that can excel in physics and realism". The company said the filmmakers it has been working with include Dave Clark, Henry Daubrez and Junie Lau.
"The experimental and technological exploration spirit of the original soup makes them ideal companions to help thinkfully bring into the new era of AI-Asissist as cassisting," said Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google Deepmind, of his partnership with Aronofsky's startup.
More information about the original soup (the word Aronofsky used in his director's statement about the horror movie "Mother!") in this link.
According to Primitive Soup, McNett's "Ancestra" film is "a profound personal narrative inspired by the day she was born." Here is the log: “When childbirth is in crisis, mother’s love becomes the cosmic force that saves daughter’s life.” “Ancestra” will debut at the Tribeca Music Festival on June 13, 2025, followed by a panel member of the filmmakers hosted by Aronofsky.
McNitt's work includes "Sphere", touted as a groundbreaking VR experience executive produced by Aronofsky, with Millie Bobby Brown, Jessica Chastain and Patti Smith as "Multi-generational Voice of the Universe." The project is the first VR acquisition to be acquired in Sundance in 2018.
"With 'Ancestra', I was able to transform the invisible, family archives, emotions and science into film experiences, which are both intimate and vast," McNitt said in a statement.
According to Primal Soup, McNett's film combines performances by SAG-AFTRA actors with "full film crew production" with AI-generated images, depicting things like "cosmic events and microscopic worlds." The AI-generated elements are shaped by McNitt's personal biography, which includes a newborn baby modeled on his own picture of his baby, and the visual style of the photos taken by the late father.
According to the two companies, traditional artists (including animators, VFX experts, concept artists and storyboard artists) worked closely with Google DeepMind researchers. “Through training models on original concept art and hand-painted storyboards, (collaborative processes) preserve emotional continuity and artistic integrity, ensuring ethical AI implementation can maintain the vision of the filmmaker,” they said.
Watch the trailer for "Ancestra":
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qucia6halcg[/embed]