Sylvain Chomet: Dior film was 'entirely drawn by artists,' not AI

The director of "The Triplets of Belleville" is hitting back after viewers accused his new Dior short of being made with generative AI, flagging glitches like a character with six fingers as proof.

Sylvain Chomet, the four-time Oscar nominee, made "Christian Dior's Night in Color," a six-minute animated film that anchors Dior's 2026 holiday campaign. It carries a voice cast led by Robert Pattinson, Rihanna, Josh O'Connor, LaKeith Stanfield, Louis Garrel and Camille Cottin, and Dior sold it as a celebration of traditional craftsmanship, drawing a parallel between Chomet's hand-drawn style and the house's couture ateliers.

That positioning is exactly why the backlash stung. As the film spread online, viewers began pointing to apparent glitches, including a six-fingered character, as evidence it was generated by AI.

Chomet and producer Aton Soumache tell Variety the opposite is true.

Some people are claiming Sylvain was contacted two weeks ago and that the entire film was made with generative AI, without a single drawing, but the reality is that this film took seven months to make and it was entirely drawn by artists.

The production employed roughly 20 people, including six animators alongside storyboard artists, designers, background artists, compositors and editors. The pair concede one automated tool was used, but only to smooth the movement.

"We used an automated interpolation system for a very small part of the process, but the film itself is traditional 2D animation," Soumache says. Chomet adds that the interpolation fills in the repetitive in-between frames. "It's a way of automating the repetitive, mechanical part of animation, not the creative work."

For Chomet, the accusation is especially ironic. He points out he kept drawing long after the success of "Toy Story" pushed the industry toward CGI. "I remember Disney declaring that traditional 2D animation was dead and that everything would be CGI, but I decided to continue making hand-drawn films," he says. "That's why I find it so strange that people are attacking me today."

What happens in the film

The short imagines Marlene Dietrich in Los Angeles, preparing to shoot a movie when the director suddenly decides to film in color. An urgent call goes to Paris for a bright Dior gown, sending Christian Dior and his seamstresses into a race against the clock. Pattinson narrates, Louis Garrel voices Dior and Camille Cottin plays Dietrich.