Antoine Fuqua, Roland Emmerich Swap Action Movie Stories at Comic-Con

Roland Emmerich and Antoine Fuqua may have each helmed a dueling White House invasion movie in 2013, but it was all love between them at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday.

Collider brought two of the most successful action directors of all time together in Hall H to discuss their work in a panel moderated by Steven Weintraub.

“Right before shooting, maybe a month before, I learned he was shooting another one that was called ‘Olympus Has Fallen,’” Emmerich said — revealing he actually watched Fuqua’s film on a plane. “I thought, this is such a better title than ‘White House Down.’”

Fuqua, who also confirmed he’s seen Emmerich’s film, added, “I figured there’s room for those stories. Obviously, it’s two different directors, two different visions on that.” He said the comparisons only fueled the fire inside to step his own game up, continuing, “When you’re gonna make a movie and Roland Emmerich is gonna make the same movie, it’s daunting … It was more like a healthy competition. It was never negative for me.”

The directors also weighed in on the role of artificial intelligence in filmmaking. “I think it’s a tool. That’s what it is. It just makes your job as a director more easy,” Emmerich remarked. “That’s what’s really important, because it’s not like this AI does everything for you. You still need to choose the right actor, shoot the right scenes, do the right thing. And then AI can really help you in doing that.”

Fuqua expressed a similar sentiment, and compared the onset of AI to the rise of digital as opposed to film. “We’re creatures of habit. I remember when I started in videos and commercials, I shot on film. Digital was a thing we all kicked and screamed about. Turns out, it’s fantastic. It’s another paintbrush we can use to do our work. AI’s the same thing.”

While Fuqua is open to embracing AI as a tool, he says there are some clear limitations when…