Viral AI video of Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt leaves Hollywood flabbergasted: 'It's likely over for us'
Viral AI video of Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt leaves Hollywood flabbergasted: 'It's likely over for us'
Wesley StenzelFri, February 13, 2026 at 11:36 PM UTC
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Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise at the 'F1' premiere in London
Gareth Cattermole/Getty
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Irish filmmaker Ruairí Robinson shared multiple AI-generated videos of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt fistfighting on social media.
SAG-AFTRA and the Motion Picture Association condemned ByteDance, the Chinese company responsible for the technology that generated the videos.
Deadpool screenwriter Rhett Reese was also alarmed by the videos' quality: "It's likely over for us."
Another day, another AI video prompting pessimism about Hollywood's future.
Oscar-nominated Irish filmmaker Ruairí Robinson shared an AI-generated video on social media Tuesday, featuring the likenesses of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt having an elaborate fistfight on a Los Angeles overpass.
"This was a 2 line prompt in seedance 2," Robinson wrote in the caption of the 15-second clip, which has garnered more than 1.4 million views to date.
Seedance 2.0 is a new AI service by ByteDance, the Chinese company that also owns TikTok.
Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise in Los Angeles in 1998
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Robinson also posted a follow-up video featuring AI versions of the Interview With the Vampire costars fighting in a similar location, this time with dialogue.
"You killed Jeffrey Epstein, you animal," the fake Pitt says in a voice that sounds strikingly similar to the real Moneyball star. "He was a good man."
"He knew too much about our Russia operations," AI-generated Cruise responds in a similarly realistic voice. "He had to die, and now you die too."
That clip has amassed more than 3 million views to date.
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Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Cruise and Pitt for comment.
SAG-AFTRA, the union representing around 170,000 actors and entertainers worldwide, shared a statement with EW condemning ByteDance and accusing the company of widespread copyright infringement.
"SAG-AFTRA stands with the studios in condemning the blatant infringement enabled by Bytedance's new AI video model Seedance 2.0," the organization said. "The infringement includes the unauthorized use of our members' voices and likenesses. This is unacceptable and undercuts the ability of human talent to earn a livelihood. Seedance 2.0 disregards law, ethics, industry standards and basic principles of consent. Responsible AI development demands responsibility, and that is nonexistent here."
EW has reached out to ByteDance for comment.
Rhett Reese at the 'Now You See Me: Now You Don't' premiere in New York
Noam Galai/WireImage
Screenwriter Rhett Reese, who wrote all three Deadpool movies and Now You See Me: Now You Don't, shared the first video with an alarmed message. "I hate to say it. It’s likely over for us," he lamented.
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Reese later clarified his reaction to the video in another post. "I am not at all excited about AI encroaching into creative endeavors," he wrote. "To the contrary, I'm terrified. So many people I love are facing the loss of careers they love. I myself am at risk. When I wrote 'It's over,' I didn't mean it to sound cavalier or flippant."
The screenwriter added that he was "blown away" by the video of the two AI actors fighting "because it is so professional" and realistic. "That's exactly why I’m scared," he said. "My glass half empty view is that Hollywood is about to be revolutionized/decimated. If you truly think the Pitt v Cruise video is unimpressive slop, you've got nothing to worry about. But I'm shook."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
