Emily Blunt says algorithms 'frustrate me,' adds it cannot determine 'what will be successful'

Hollywood star Emily Blunt — who recently played Robert Oppenheimer's wife in Christopher Nolan's recent film "Oppenheimer" — has suggested algorithms should not determine the success of a film of television show.

Deadline Hollywood reported the Oscar nominee joined Ryan Gosling for a Vanity Fair Italy cover story, where Blunt communicated her frustration with algorithm-driven decision making in the arts.

The report noted that Nolan's "Oppenheimer" was the sort of film that an algorithm would likely discourage, even though it was a massively successful, three-hour film about a prominent figure during World War II.

The film grossed almost $972 million at the box office, making it among the most successful films in history.

“Some new things frustrate me: algorithms, for example,” Blunt said. “I hate that fucking word, excuse the expletive! How can it be associated with art and content? How can we let it determine what will be successful and what will not?”

“Let me explain with an example,” she continued. “I was in a three-hour film about a physicist, which had the that impact it had – the algorithms probably wouldn’t have grasped it. My hope is that ‘Oppenheimer’ and similar projects are not considered anomalies, that we stop translating creative experience into diagrams.”

Gosling was quick to jump in, adding: “You can’t beat an algorithm at its job. And this, paradoxically, forces me to be more human, to choose ‘handmade’ projects like ‘The Fall Guy,’ which is based on personal experiences, our footprints and our stories, which we poured into the characters.”

Nolan — who has made a name for himself as an film auteur who can still get lots of funding from studios — said: “I’ve just made a three-hour film about Robert Oppenheimer which is R-rated and half in black-and-white – and it made a billion dollars. Of course I think films are doing great."

“The crazy thing is that it’s literally the most successful film I’ve ever made. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and in the United Kingdom it’s my highest-grossing film. So I feel great about the state of the movie business, based on my own experience. But also based on seeing other movies break out, seeing audiences come back.”

“The audience’s desire to be surprised, to see something new, to see something they did not know they wanted, that’s always been the most powerful force in theatrical film,” Nolan added.

“So it was wonderful to see that this year.”

This development comes as Hollywood production companies appear to be investing in films based on books, comic books, or other intellectual property.

Nolan's "Oppenheimer" was based on a biographical book called "American Prometheus," written by Kai Bird.

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