The Creator's Controversial Trailer Moment That Went Too Far

"Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" premiered to widespread acclaim in 2016, and director Gareth Edwards' first feature since, titled "The Creator," hits theaters on September 29. While anticipation among fans of his work on "Rogue One" is high, "The Creator" courted some controversy prior to its release over a scene in its first trailer. "Ten years ago today, the artificial intelligence created to protect us detonated a nuclear warhead in Los Angeles," reads a newscaster as footage plays of a large explosion in a futuristic metropolitan city. As it turns out, this clip is effectively identical in appearance to a widely-circulated recording of the tragic, real-life explosion that severely damaged Beirut, Lebanon in August of 2020.

Widespread discussion of this similarity began in a Reddit thread by user BrokeBoyAdvanced that amassed more than 1,500 upvotes. User Karthi Animations then shared a video to YouTube comparing the "Creator" trailer clip to the actual footage of the Beirut explosion in various manners to highlight the resemblance.

Director Gareth Edwards addressed the close resemblance between the explosion in the "Creator" trailer and the Beirut incident during a Reddit AMA on September 14, 2023, roughly two weeks prior to the film's theatrical premiere.

User jeffries_kettle asked about the footage in a comment that received more than 190 upvotes, becoming the thread's third most popular question. Plenty of users looking forward to the movie, then, were seemingly interested in hearing about the controversial trailer moment from Edwards directly.

"It was never meant to be included in the trailer and never appears in the actual movie. Just by way of explanation: the reality is that archival footage is commonly used as reference for temporary VFX," he replied through an official Reddit account for the film.

It turns out, then, that an edited version of the Beirut explosion was a part of the first "Creator" trailer due to VFX work frequently incorporating real footage similar in appearance to the intended final product as a placeholder. In this particular case, someone apparently messed up and neglected to replace or remove the explosion sequence before the trailer's official release.

Before Gareth Edwards explained that the controversial explosion was never intended for the final version of the "Creator" trailer, users on the VFX subreddit discussed at length how it might have ended up making the final cut and shared what they thought about its inclusion.

In the thread's top comment, a user with more than 24 years of VFX experience explained that whomever holds the rights the original Beirut explosion footage is, technically, allowed to sell or distribute it through whatever channels they might want. However, ethically they didn't think its inclusion was right, and theorized that it was likely meant to be used just for reference as Edwards later confirmed.

Meanwhile, user Automatic-Lie4017 brought up the fact that various VFX companies contributed to the film's extensive special effects, meaning that it was unlikely Edwards was aware of the gaffe and that a single one of those companies was most likely at fault.

The thread's original poster likewise shared numerous thoughts about the clip in a lengthy comment. "Does it make a difference if real identifiable people are in the footage and are injured, or what if it's just a wide shot like this where we don't really see anyone?" they wondered. "Would it be okay to use WWII archival footage in a fictional film?" While Edwards has since clarified its inclusion was a mistake, these questions are, of course, valid all the same.

The aforementioned explosion in Beirut, Lebanon killed over 200 people and injured an estimated 7000 more. The event is still fresh in the collective memories, so it's understandable why the trailer for "The Creator" left a bad taste in some people's mouths, even if it was a mistake.

For example, Reddit users such as u/jmwills fear that the filmmakers are going to exploit a tragedy in the movie. "We don't consider inspiration unethical but this is unethical, because they are completely different. It's one thing to be like "hey here's what an explosion would look like, let's make ours look like that". It's another to actually exploit it in the film."

Similarly, there are some movie fans who refuse to see "The Creator" as a result of the mistake. There have been calls for boycotts by some Reddit users, and they don't seem willing to overlook the mix-up. "Hundreds of people died in that footage, thousands were Injured," one Redditor wrote. "And you think it's an overreaction to boycott the film because the creators stole this clip for money?" 

It remains to be seen if the controversy will hamper the film's box office performance. However, those who do want to see it will be able to on September 29.