Atlas: Jennifer Lopez And Sterling K. Brown Discusses How To Tackle An AI War

In Netflix’s new movie Atlas, Jennifer Lopez and Sterling K. Brown fight against humanoid terrorists in a war against artificial intelligence (AI).

Lopez plays Atlas Shepherd, an analyst and AI specialist, while Brown portrays Colonel Elias Banks, a determined soldier. Together, they aim to defeat the AI leader, Harlan, with the help of an AI named Smith.

Jennifer Lopez and Sterling K. Brown discuss how they’d survive the AI war

In an interview with CBR, they both reflect on the relevance of the movie’s theme in today’s society and speculate on how they would survive an AI war, jokingly referencing action movie heroes like Rambo.

When asked about how would she survive an AI war, Jennifer Lopez said, “How would I survive the AI war? I have no idea. I’m certainly no Atlas.” Sterling asserted, “But I feel like you’re similar to Atlas. You kind of have to go as analog as possible.”

He explained, “You have to sort of unattach yourself from anything technological in order to not be tied to it.”When Lopez noted, “Hand-to-hand combat.” Brown added, “You gotta go hardcore Krav Maga-type stuff.” As the 54-year-old singer joked, “Rambo!” The Marshall actor, 48, chimed in, “Yeah, Rambo! Light it on fire.”

Jennifer Lopez and Sterling K. Brown on exploring the relationship between humans and AI

Lopez and Brown discuss the significance of exploring the relationship between humans and AI in Atlas. They talk about how the movie adds heart to the traditional sci-fi and action genre, focusing on the growth of the characters and their connection with each other.

Lopez emphasizes the emotional depth of the story, highlighting the journey of trust and humanity between Atlas and Smith. She told CBR, “For me, the kind of relationship between Atlas and the artificial intelligence was really interesting. I remember the first time I read the script, I sobbed and I thought, “Yeah, this is a sci-fi [movie]. This is an action movie.'”

Lopez continues, “But there’s a really beautiful story about how these two kinds of entities come together and really become more human. Smith becomes more and more human, and so does Atlas. That relationship of learning how to trust someone when you’ve never trusted anything since you were a child because of some traumatic event that happened to you is something that a lot of people can identify with.”

Sterling K. Brown opens up about his experience about working in Atlas 

Brown, known for his grounded roles, shares his experience of working on a larger-scale production like Atlas. He mentions the challenges of filming with green screens and the excitement of sharing the movie with his eight-year-old son.

Brown said in the interview, “It’s fun. There are a lot of green screen things. So there’s a lot left to your imagination that you have to fill out. Then you get a chance to see it in post-production afterward.”

Speaking about his son, The Waves actor told the outlet, “I was really excited for my eight-year-old to see me in something because he’s like, “Dad, I don’t ever get a chance. You don’t do stuff for kids.” I was like, “Okay, I should do something for children.” It’s not like I’m running around doing NC-17 stuff, but I guess when you’re eight years old, it’s all the same.”

Atlas premieres on Netflix on May 24, 2024.