‘Snow White’ Star Gal Gadot Just Explained Why She Spent Six Months Fighting to Keep AI Out of Her Performance

Hollywood’s relationship with artificial intelligence has grown increasingly complicated over the past few years, with actors, writers, and studios still figuring out where the technology genuinely belongs and where it crosses a line. Few upcoming projects have put that tension on more public display than Doug Liman’s next film, a project that’s drawn attention almost entirely for how it was made rather than what it’s actually about.

That attention intensified once details emerged about the film’s production methods, sparking a wave of industry-wide debate before the movie had even finished shooting. With her name now firmly attached to the project, Gal Gadot has finally addressed the controversy head-on, offering her most detailed explanation yet of why she signed on despite her own reservations.

Gal Gadot defended starring in the ‘Bitcoin’ movie, which features AI-generated sets and lighting. Speaking on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, she said, “I did not want AI to have anything to do with my performance. We had to protect that… The train has left the station. You’re going to work with it or be out of the game completely. I am trying to make the best of it and protect what I can protect.”

Gadot revealed that securing that protection required an unusually lengthy legal process. “This was the longest contract I have ever worked on,” she said. “It was six months from my lawyers to go through every scenario we could think about as far as the AI component of it. We had to protect that, to such an extent that SAG called my lawyers to ask for pointers to update the SAG contract to protect other actors. As far as the performances, it’s all me.”

‘Bitcoin,’ directed by Liman and written by ‘Gran Torino’ screenwriter Nick Schenk, follows the shadowy story surrounding cryptocurrency’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The film stars Casey Affleck as controversial computer scientist Craig Wright, Pete Davidson as blockchain investor Calvin Ayre, and Gadot as a character named Charlotte “Lotte” Miller.

Rather than filming on traditional sets, the cast performed almost entirely within a bare-bones warehouse space, with the surrounding visual environment generated afterward through AI. Producer Ryan Kavanaugh has claimed the approach helped bring the film’s budget down to $70 million from a reported $300 million, largely by replacing traditional set construction and lighting setups.

Gadot described the shoot itself as an unexpectedly positive creative experience despite the unconventional method. “It felt like a pure art form of creating a movie,” she explained. “We would film non-stop because we didn’t have to wait for lighting. We would film on and on and on for 10 hours. That was amazing.” She compared the pace to working in theater, since the production didn’t require the usual downtime actors spend waiting between setups.

The AI conversation wasn’t the only topic Gadot addressed candidly during the same appearance. She also discussed why she’s stepped away from the DC Universe following the studio’s leadership change, reflecting on how other actors and directors were treated during that transition.

With ‘Bitcoin’ still without an official release date, Gadot’s comments offer an early glimpse into how major studios and stars are navigating the growing role of AI in filmmaking, balancing genuine unease about the technology against a belief that avoiding it entirely is no longer a realistic option.

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