The finale to Stranger Things aired almost two weeks ago, and there has hardly been a moment of peace since. First there was the viral belief that there would be some secret ninth episode, which Netflix calmly but pointedly rejected. Then, the documentary One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 appeared on Netflix yesterday. The doc quickly caused some controversy by revealing that the final season was not completely written when production started. Worse still, fans believe that the doc shows Reddit and ChatGPT open on the Duffer Brothers’ laptops during one shot, per Kotaku. Of course, using ChatGPT for one thing does not mean that the show was written by AI, but given how contentious the presence of AI is in Hollywood right now—there were a couple of strikes partially over it, you may recall—it’s hardly a good look.
That look just got worse. Martina Radwan, who directed the doc, gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter, published today, where she was asked directly about the alleged ChatGPT use. Her response boils down to: Where’s your proof but also who cares?
“I mean, are we even sure they had ChatGPT open?” Radwan says when asked about the topic. “But to me it’s like, doesn’t everybody have it open, to just do quick research?” She goes on, “How can you possibly write a storyline with 19 characters and use ChatGPT, I don’t even understand. … Again, first of all, nobody has actually proved that it was open.” But if it was open, “That’s like having your iPhone next to your computer while you’re writing a story. We just use these tools … while multitasking. So there’s a lot going on all the time, every time. What I find heartbreaking is everybody loves the show, and suddenly we need to pick it apart.”
When asked directly by THR reporter Tony Maglio about whether she witnessed the use of ChatGPT while filming the documentary, Radwan replies, “No, of course not. I witnessed creative exchanges. I witnessed conversation. People think “writers room” means people are sitting there writing. No, it’s a creative exchange. It’s story development. And, of course, you go places in your creative mind and then you come back [to the script]. I think being in the writers room is such a privilege and such a gift to be able to witness that.” There you have it, we guess. THR ends by saying Netflix and the Duffer Brothers didn’t respond to its request for comment on the topic.
