China Reportedly Alters Gay Marriage Scene in ‘Together’ to Straight Using AI Face Swaps
The 2025 supernatural body horror film Together, written and directed by Michael Shanks in his feature debut, has been making waves for both its shocking visuals and its real-life connection between the stars.
The movie stars Alison Brie and Dave Franco, a married couple, as partners who move to the countryside and encounter a mysterious force that changes their bodies in horrifying ways.
Together first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26. It was later released in the United States by Neon on July 30, and in Australia by Kismet Movies on July 31. Critics have mostly praised the film, and it has earned $32 million worldwide.
The movie opens with a tense prologue, showing a search party looking for two missing people in the woods. Two search dogs wander into an underground cave, drink from a strange pool, and soon act unusually. By nightfall, the dogs’ owner hears strange noises from the kennel and discovers the animals horrifyingly fusing together.
Critics have praised the film for its mix of emotional depth and gross-out body horror. On Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 223 reviews were positive, with the site saying, “Given an extra sinew of authenticity by the metatextual casting of Alison Brie and Dave Franco at the top of their game, Together is a body horror that’s as emotionally sticky as it is memorably gnarly.”
Metacritic gave it a score of 75 out of 100, indicating generally favorable reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the movie a “C+.”
Despite its success, the film has sparked controversy in China. According to pre-screening audiences, the country altered a gay marriage scene in the movie, using AI face swaps to change it into a straight marriage.
The information was first shared by viewers on Reddit, highlighting how authorities digitally modified the scene before release.
This move has raised questions about censorship and the use of AI in film localization, especially when it comes to LGBTQ+ representation. Together continues to be discussed for its mix of horror, romance, and now, real-world debates over creative control and cultural edits.
The original post that first revealed the change states: “Shocking… According to information from netizens, the mainland release version of Together used AI technology to “change the gender” of a supporting character in one scene. I never expected AI technology to be used like this now.”
“Also, an important aspect of body horror films is to include the physical experiences of queer people, especially since this film involves issues of opposite-sex, same-sex, and transgender identities. Even if the scene were simply cut, it would be better than this kind of “humiliation.”
This is not the first controversy surrounding the movie.
TOGETHER. The Trailer. The best horror movie of the year. Join us 7.30. pic.twitter.com/xGzc9G7O8w
— NEON (@neonrated) May 5, 2025
In May, Michael Shanks, Alison Brie, Dave Franco, the talent agency Endeavor, and Neon were named in a copyright infringement lawsuit over the 2023 film Better Half. The suit was filed by writer-director Patrick Henry Phelan and his production company, StudioFest.
According to the complaint, Better Half had been pitched to Brie and Franco in August 2020, but they declined the offer because they wanted to produce the film themselves and have William Morris Endeavor hire a writer for the project. The lawsuit also cited alleged similarities between the two films.
Shanks responded by denying the claims, explaining that he wrote and registered the first draft of his screenplay with the Writers Guild of America in 2019, received development funding from Screen Australia in 2020, and that his agent had pitched the script to Franco.
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