Sylvain Chomet, the four-time Oscar nominee behind "The Triplets of Belleville," is firmly denying accusations that generative AI created his six-minute animated short for Dior. The film, titled "Christian Dior’s Night in Color," features a voice cast led by Robert Pattinson, Rihanna, Josh O’Connor, LaKeith Stanfield, Louis Garrel, and Camille Cottin. Online viewers pointed to visual glitches, specifically a character with six fingers, as evidence of automated generation. This speculation flared because Dior positioned the piece as a celebration of traditional craftsmanship to launch its 2026 holiday season. The brand drew direct parallels between Chomet’s hand-drawn animation and the work of its couture ateliers.
The Production Process
Producer Aton Soumache states the film took seven months to make with roughly 20 people, including six animators, storyboard artists, designers, background artists, compositors, and editors. They used an automated interpolation system only for intermediate frames to ensure fluid movement, while all characters, backgrounds, and key poses were drawn by artists. Chomet explains this tool automates repetitive mechanical tasks, not creative work. He notes the irony of the accusations given his career-long commitment to traditional 2D animation despite industry pressure to shift to CGI after the success of "Toy Story." "I’ve remained faithful to drawing throughout my career," he says. "At the same time, I’m going to use the tools that technology offers us."
The production team addressed the specific complaint about six-fingered hands by explaining it was a stylistic choice to convey rapid movement where a hand spreads like a fan. Chomet argues such minor inconsistencies happen in traditional animation too, citing instances where a nose changes shape over five frames. The story 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 requesting a colorful gown, sending Christian Dior and his seamstresses into a race against the clock. Pattinson narrates the piece, while Garrel voices Dior and Cottin plays Dietrich. O’Connor voices a talking chair, Rihanna portrays Dior’s lucky star, and Stanfield plays the Hollywood director. Nine d’Urso, Nadia Tereszkiewicz, and Greta Lee voice the three bees.
Creative Collaboration
The short draws on chapters of Dior’s history, including the couturier’s friendship with Dietrich and the creation of the iconic Junon gown in 1949. It also takes inspiration from Jonathan Anderson’s Cruise 2027 collection, which explores cinema’s transition from black-and-white to Technicolor. Anderson originated the idea, and Martin Latham helped develop the screenplay with Chomet. The collaboration extended beyond the screen, with Chomet’s illustrations inspiring Dior’s holiday collections and boutique windows around the world. Many of Dior’s physical window displays are based directly on Sylvain’s drawings, creating physical versions of the film’s characters and objects. Soumache notes that Dior sought out Chomet specifically for his distinctive drawing style. Chomet found working on graphic tablets frustrating and plans to return to pencil and paper because he loves having original drawings. He describes Disney’s 1961 classic "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" as his personal benchmark for poetic beauty in drawing.
