China Allegedly Changes Gay Marriage Scene in ‘Together’ to Straight with AI Face Swaps
The 2025 supernatural body horror film Together, directed by Michael Shanks in his first feature, has caught attention for both its shocking visuals and the real-life marriage between its stars, Alison Brie and Dave Franco.
The couple plays partners who move to the countryside and encounter a mysterious force that changes their bodies in gruesome ways.
Together premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2025, before releasing in the United States on July 30 through Neon and in Australia on July 31 via Kismet Movies. Critics largely praised the film, and it has earned $32 million worldwide.
The movie begins with a tense scene in which two search dogs discover a mysterious underground pool, leading to a horrifying transformation that sets the tone for the film’s body horror elements.
Reviewers have highlighted the film’s emotional depth combined with its grotesque visuals. Rotten Tomatoes shows a 90% approval rating based on 223 reviews, with the consensus reading: “Given an extra sinew of authenticity by the metatextual casting of Alison Brie and Dave Franco at the top of their game, Together is a body horror that’s as emotionally sticky as it is memorably gnarly.”
Metacritic gave it a score of 75 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews, while CinemaScore audience polling gave the film a “C+.”
However, the movie has stirred controversy in China. Pre-screening audiences reported that a same-sex marriage scene was digitally altered using AI face swaps to change it into a heterosexual marriage. Reddit users were among the first to highlight these changes, sparking debates over censorship and the ethical use of AI in film localization.
One netizen wrote: “Shocking… According to information from netizens, the mainland release version of Together used AI technology to ‘change the gender’ of a supporting character in one scene. I never expected AI technology to be used like this now.”
They added: “Also, an important aspect of body horror films is to include the physical experiences of queer people, especially since this film involves issues of opposite-sex, same-sex, and transgender identities. Even if the scene were simply cut, it would be better than this kind of ‘humiliation.’”
Together has also faced legal issues. In May 2025, Michael Shanks, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, the talent agency Endeavor, and Neon were sued for alleged copyright infringement over the 2023 film Better Half. The lawsuit, filed by writer-director Patrick Henry Phelan and his production company StudioFest, claimed the film’s concept had been pitched to Brie and Franco in 2020 but rejected because they wanted to produce it themselves and hire a writer.
TOGETHER. The Trailer. The best horror movie of the year. Join us 7.30. pic.twitter.com/xGzc9G7O8w
— NEON (@neonrated) May 5, 2025
The suit also mentioned supposed similarities between the two films. Shanks denied the claims, saying he wrote and registered the first draft of Together with the Writers Guild of America in 2019, received funding from Screen Australia in 2020, and that his agent had pitched the script to Franco.