Australian filmmaker Michael Shanks has pulled his horror feature Together from cinemas in China after discovering that local distributors used artificial intelligence to censor a queer storyline, replacing a gay couple with a heterosexual one — all without his knowledge or consent.
Shanks, who wrote and directed the acclaimed Aussie horror, spoke out against the unauthorised edit during an interview with Triple J’s Hack program. He described the move as both “baffling” and damaging to the film’s integrity.
Together, which stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie, incorporates queer themes as part of its high-concept body-horror plot. While its theatrical release in China was seen as a milestone, the excitement quickly turned to outrage when reports of the censorship surfaced.
AI Used to Alter Wedding Scene
The altered sequence in question appears late in the film and originally featured a same-sex couple’s wedding video. In the Chinese version, the scene was modified with AI-generated visuals, cropping one man out of most shots and replacing his face with that of a woman — effectively changing the couple from gay to straight.
“It’s glaringly strange, this sort of homunculus face that’s on this performer that AI gives them,” said Shanks. “It’s five seconds of a 104-minute-long movie. It’s crazy that they needed to change that just to get it in cinemas.”
Shanks noted that the edit made the otherwise “completely watertight” plot more confusing and raised serious ethical concerns.
Edits Made Without Filmmaker’s Knowledge
Shanks first learned about the AI alterations after seeing photos from Chinese preview screenings circulating on social media.
“Photos of the scene that had been altered via AI hit my feed before it hit the distributors’,” he recalled. “The first thing I did was contact the producers and say, ‘Did anybody know about this? Did anybody sign off on this?’ It was a resounding no. Everybody was as shocked and taken aback as I was.”
Distributor Neon quickly responded, stating it “does not approve” of the unauthorised changes and ordered Chinese distributors to cease screenings of the edited version. Shanks and Neon then withdrew the film from release entirely in China.
“We want people to see our film — not a film that’s been altered,” Shanks said.
Queer Erasure Crosses the Line
While Shanks acknowledged that a brief nude scene in the film was also censored, he emphasised that altering the gender of a key character was far more egregious.
“I say, let’s look at the bums. But I kind of understand the reasoning behind that,” he joked. “But to completely change the gender of a character — completely change something that’s a representation of a queer relationship, as well as making the plot make less sense — is just baffling.”
Despite the setback, Shanks praised Neon for standing by the artistic integrity of the film.
“I’m really, really grateful that Neon consulted with me,” he said. “They had the exact same thought that I did… respecting the art of the film in its pure form.”
“Interesting Art Comes From People — Not AI”
The incident has further fuelled Shanks’ broader concerns about the rise of artificial intelligence in creative industries.
“I’m really anti-AI,” he told Hack. “I really can’t think of a place that it has that isn’t just awful.”
He criticised the use of AI as a way for studios to sidestep paying creatives, saying, “Interesting art comes from people — people who have brains that create ideas. AI is where people go to bypass their own brains for a result that is brainless.”
As the future of Together in other international markets unfolds, Shanks and Neon are holding firm on one principle: audiences deserve to see the film as it was meant to be seen — unedited, uncensored, and true to its vision.
