interviews & press
tAInted love: What Happens When Human Intimacy Is Sacrificed For Synthetic Gratification?
In writer/director Lisa Steadman’s fascinating and humorous dark dramedy tAInted love, the consequences of AI’s rapid encroachment on both human romance and humanity in general are revealed when an otherwise fun gathering between love-seeking Californians is disrupted by an unexpected blackout.
With the city thrust into darkness, the party’s normally enthusiastic arranger, matchmaker/AI skeptic Stella (Criss Ruiz) and her husband Jorge (Eusebio Hernandez, The Pitt) are thrust into an eye-opening situation when some of their invitees reveal themselves to be not sentient flesh-and-blood people but highly artificial humanoids who, like every other high-tech product, predictably break down whenever there’s no electricity, and who are obviously incapable of giving their sentient counterparts the human touch in all its varieties.
Brand Integration: Writing Real Life AI Podcasters Into A Short Film About AI Companionship
As the power couple hosting a group of love-seeking singles in what soon becomes a revealing dinner gathering in writer/director Lisa Steadman’s dark comedy short film tAInted love, co-stars Criss Ruiz (as the eager party hostess Stella) and The Pitt’s Eusebio Hernandez (as Stella’s equally welcoming and practically perfect spouse Jorge) experience not only how relationships evolve in the age of artificial intelligence but also — in the behavior of some of their guests — how modern technology has changed the pursuit of romance from a solely human one to a chase where synthetic beings take the place of real people, and how the undeniable physicality of two bodies in the heat of sexual intimacy is lost as a result.
tAInted love, written, co-directed and executive produced by bestselling relationship author and screenwriter Lisa Steadman, tells the story of a blackout at a matchmaker’s dinner party that short-circuits more than the lights, revealing glitchy AI companions, hidden secrets, and the comedic vulnerability of artificial versus human love.
The film features Emmy-winning actress Diahnna Nicole Baxter (American Crime Story: Impeachment) and The Pitt’s Eusebio Hernandez, with cinematography by 11-time Emmy-winner John Tipton, also a producer on the film alongside the film’s editor and producer Steven Nevius, who edited Rob Reiner’s A Few Good Men, and Brian Thomas, who co-directed and produced tAInted love, adding to his slate of impressive production credits.
Inside tAInted love With Co-Stars Eusebio Hernandez and Criss Ruiz