Eli Roth Confirms ‘Ice Cream Man’ GenAI Use After First Describing A Traditional Animation Process

Eli Roth has confirmed that generative AI was used in his new horror film Ice Cream Man, including in animated sequences that he initially described as having been created through a traditional, human-led pipeline.

The film has not yet been widely released, but viewers at early screenings identified what appeared to be AI-generated material, including Fleischer-style cartoons watched by the characters and an illustrated flashback explaining the villain’s origins. Dark Half, a company specializing in AI visual effects, is credited on the production.

In an interview published by Polygon on Monday of this week, Roth described a hand-drawn process and emphasized his own role in creating the animation.

“I have an animation background, and I drew it,” Roth said, explaining that he worked alongside a team of animators. “I drew the loop cycles and the styles. Then I had some animators help kind of make it a little more fluid, and I worked with an artist to give it a bit of an old-timey jittery feel. But I sat there, and I drew out the frames that I wanted, and I tried to match the style of the 1920s haunted Mickey Mouse cartoons.”

On Tuesday, Polygon updated its reporting with a new statement from Roth acknowledging that the film did use generative AI.

“I misspoke,” he said, offering up a completely conflicting account of how the scenes were animated. “AI was used in a very small portion of a few scenes in the film. It was an opportunity where technology and creativity came together to help bring my vision for the film to life.”

Roth did not specify which scenes used the technology, how much AI-generated material appears in the finished film, or how those elements were combined with work by human artists. Polygon said it had contacted Roth and Dark Half for further clarification but had not received a response.