The Drama Behind the Screen
If you thought the 2023 OpenAI chaos was already a cinematic moment, director Luca Guadagnino agrees. His new film, Artificial, which just premiered at the New York Film Festival, tackles that exact boardroom shakeup where Sam Altman was ousted and then swiftly rehired.
Andrew Garfield is stepping into the role of Sam Altman, and the rest of the cast is honestly stacked: Yura Borisov plays OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Monica Barbaro takes on the role of Mira Murati, and Ike Barinholtz is portraying Elon Musk. It’s giving The Social Network but make it AI-apocalypse vibes.
No Fear, Just Facts
When asked by Vulture if he’s worried about the tech titans coming for him, Guadagnino kept it 100. He said, “I’m not afraid,” adding, “I think that people that have a lot of power should be very much aware that you must be responsible for the community.” Talk about main character energy.
Guadagnino also dropped a little tea, revealing that he was “indirectly approached” by some of the real-life figures in the movie, but he didn't spill on who. As for Altman himself? Total radio silence so far.
A Studio Shuffle
The movie’s path to the screen wasn't exactly smooth. Amazon MGM originally had the project but eventually dropped it—likely not a coincidence given Amazon’s massive $50 billion investment in OpenAI. Neon eventually swooped in to pick it up, and Guadagnino is keeping the peace, saying, “I love everybody in that company. The people at Amazon are my friends.”
As for his take on AI in film? He’s not here to be a hater, but he isn’t about to start using it in his own work either. He’s taking a “wait and see” approach, noting that being a prohibitionist toward tech progress just isn't his vibe.
Why it matters
This is a major cultural moment where the people building the future are finally getting the Hollywood treatment, forcing us to ask: are these tech leaders being held accountable, or just getting a movie deal?
