Director Steven Soderbergh talks using AI in new John Lennon documentary

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Monday, May 4, 2026 at 5:05 PM

John Lennon and Yoko Ono photographed on November 2, 1980 - the first time in five years that Lennon had been photographed professionally and the last comprehensive photo shoot of his life. (Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images)

Ocean’s Eleven director Steven Soderbergh will premiere his new John Lennon and Yoko Ono documentary at the Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 12-23.

The film, John Lennon: The Last Interview, centers on Lennon’s final interview, which he and Ono sat for just hours before he was shot and killed on Dec. 8, 1980. The interview took place at the couple’s New York apartment, The Dakota, and was tied to the release of their album Double Fantasy.

Much has been made about Soderbergh’s use of AI in making the film, but in a new interview with Deadline, he insists it wasn’t used “to fool somebody or manipulate them" into thinking something's real. Instead, he says, it was used like “VFX or CGI or any sort of non-photographic technology.”

“I think people, when they heard about this project and that I was using AI tech, jumped to the absolute worst conclusion, which is, 'He’s going to try and bring John Lennon back to life,'" he says. “And all I can say is, have we met? Do I look like somebody that would do that?"

Soderbergh says he felt a "moral obligation" to himself, Ono, Lennon's son Sean Lennon and the audience to make "the best version of this film, period," noting, "And we were able — luckily, through good timing — to get our hands on some tools that I know resulted in the best version of this film."

When it comes to the actual Lennon and Ono interview, Soderbergh says he was surprised by “how excited they were to talk about everything and anything.” He notes, “You’d think listening to them that they’d never been interviewed before. They had like no filter at all.”