Rushdie is positioning himself as a champion of human creativity in an AI-dominated age, framing his new screen adaptations as proof that classic literary works deserve the prestige treatment they never received before.
Insiders say Rushdie has been burned by Hollywood before—the 2012 'Midnight's Children' film was a critical and commercial disaster—so these new projects represent a redemption arc, and his AI stance conveniently aligns with protecting his legacy.
Rushdie explicitly told Variety: "Nothing. Zero" when asked what role AI should play in creative work. He also confirmed he's developing both a new TV adaptation of 'Midnight's Children' and a film version of 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet.'
When the man who survived a fatwa over his writing tells you artificial intelligence has no business near storytelling, you might want to listen—Rushdie doesn't speak softly unless he's got receipts.
Salman Rushdie just drew a line in the sand that every tech bro with an AI startup should see: nothing. Zero. That's what the celebrated author told Variety when asked what role artificial intelligence should play in creative work, and he delivered the verdict with the kind of certainty you'd expect from someone who's spent decades defending literature's soul.
The 78-year-old novelist, whose life was upended by a fatwa issued against him following the publication of 'The Satanic Verses,' didn't hedge or caveat his position. AI, in Rushdie's view, is fundamentally incapable of originality—a damning assessment from an author who built his career on pushing creative boundaries and taking impossible risks with words. The technology that has studios scrambling to cut costs and authors panicking about their futures?
Rushdie isn't just skeptical; he's dismissive. But here's where the story gets interesting for those of us who track Hollywood's endless appetite for adaptation: Rushdie is simultaneously teasing not one but two major screen projects based on his own work. He's confirmed a new television adaptation of 'Midnight's Children'—yes, that sweeping epic about India's independence told through the eyes of a child born at the exact moment ofPartition—and a film version of 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet,' his novel about Greek tragedy set against the backdrop of rock and roll mythology.
Neither project comes without baggage. The previous 'Midnight's Children' adaptation, released in 2012 with Deepa Mehta directing, was an expensive misfire that failed to capture the book's magic despite critical praise. Rushdie himself appeared in the film as a train conductor in one scene—a decision he later seemed to regard with some bemusement.
A television format could finally give the story room to breathe across multiple episodes rather than cramming decades of history into a two-hour runtime. The 'Ground Beneath Her Feet' adaptation has been rumored for years, but Rushdie's confirmation signals this is more than wishful thinking from development executives. The novel, which reimagines Greek mythology through rock musicians who may or may not be immortal deities in disguise, has all the ingredients for a prestige drama—if it ever gets made right.
The timing of Rushdie's AI comments alongside these adaptation announcements isn't subtle: he's making clear that while technology evolves, human storytelling remains irreplaceable. Whether Hollywood agrees when budgets tighten and algorithms promise efficiency is another question entirely.
