Artificial (2026)

Artificial is an upcoming American-British-Italian biographical comedy drama film directed and co-produced by Luca Guadagnino and written by Simon Rich. It stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and centers on his controversial firing and rehiring in 2023. The ensemble cast also features Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Chris O'Dowd, Ike Barinholtz, and Mark Rylance.

The film will have its world premiere at the 2026 New York Film Festival on October 5, and it is expected to be theatrically released in the United States by Neon on December 25, 2026.

Cast

Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI

Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever, the chief scientific officer and co-founder of OpenAI who fires Altman

Monica Barbaro as Mira Murati, the chief technology officer of OpenAI

Cooper Hoffman as Greg Brockman, the board chairman of OpenAI

Jason Schwartzman

Chris O'Dowd

Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI

Mark Rylance as Geoffrey Hinton

Zosia Mamet

Cooper Koch

Billie Lourd

Angus Imrie

Nicholas Hamilton

Thaddea Graham

Will Angus

Will Price

Production

Development

In June 2025, it was reported that Luca Guadagnino would direct the film for Amazon MGM Studios from a screenplay written by Simon Rich with Rich as a producer, alongside David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, and Jennifer Fox with a cast led by Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro, and Yura Borisov. In July, Cooper Koch, Cooper Hoffman, and Jason Schwartzman joined the cast, with Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Chris O'Dowd, Will Angus, Thaddea Graham, Nicholas Hamilton, Angus Imrie, and Will Price were added to the cast the following month. Mark Rylance was added to the cast that September.

Filming

Principal photography began on July 30, 2025, in San Francisco at Dolores Park and continued in Turin, Italy. Filming wrapped in October. Malik Hassan Sayeed serves as director of photography, marking his second collaboration with Guadagnino following After the Hunt (2025).

Music

Damon Albarn, the main vocalist and lyricist of the British rock band Blur and co-creator of the British virtual band Gorillaz, composed the score and also provided original songs for the film, marking his first collaboration with Guadagnino.

Release

Distribution

Amazon MGM Studios was the original distributor worldwide and first reported in 2026 to have been aiming to release the film in the United States in early 2027, before ultimately opting to drop the film entirely. The move received scrutiny for happening several days after Amazon had signed a $50-billion deal with OpenAI. The reasons for the withdrawal were unspecified, but a report by Variety speculated that a possible reason could be the film's unsympathetic portrayals of Altman and Musk. By June 2026, producers were shopping the production to other distributors while the film was in the last stages of post-production.

According to a report by The New York Times, Guadagnino was "shocked" by the decision, as Amazon had been supportive of the film up until that point. The film was subsequently screened for other potential distributors, including A24, Focus Features, Netflix, Neon and Warner Bros. Clockwork. Every studio but Neon ultimately passed on the film, with Mubi also named as a prospective buyer. Additionally, test scores were underwhelming and the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) screenings were not particularly positive. Sources close to the decision-making process at the companies suggested to Page Six Hollywood that it rather came down to a question of taste, with some simply not liking Guadagnino’s latest project. By June 30, despite speculation that Mubi was likely to acquire the film, it was reported that Neon was nearing a deal for it instead. Shortly after, Neon confirmed its acquisition of worldwide rights to the film, planning to release it during the awards season later in 2026. Among some of those close to the film claim that Neon is "bullish" on its awards prospects, believing it "should at least feature in the awards conversation".

In July 2026, Page Six Hollywood reported that Neon had only agreed to a deal under the condition that no minimum guarantee would be attached to it. Deadline Hollywood later reported that the film is expected to entirely skip the fall film festival rollout. According to the report, there were "multiple A-list festivals" interested in the film, but Neon believes that this is not the right route for the film. The following day, Screen Daily reported that their outlet had asked distributors who considered buying the film what they actually thought of it. "The purported controversy had no impact", said one, referring to the initial belief that the film might be too much to handle after it was dropped by Amazon MGM Studios. The source, connected to one of the studios that viewed the film at CAA-organized screenings, said it had to do with the quality of the film or lack thereof, adding, "The film was viewed exclusively on its merits as a film. Unfortunately, it's dull, ponderous and another misfire from Luca. Its poor test scores and rejection from other buyers also reflect that." Sources at the other studios that screened the film seemed divided on its merits; some called it "mediocre", adding that it offered no new information about the saga or the billionaire protagonists.

Theatrical release

According to Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera, Neon will not be ready to release the film for a wide release until early 2027, with only a late December limited qualifying run planned. He also suggested that the studio needed time to arrange international sales, explaining that they did not want to premiere the film at Venice before selling it worldwide, and explained that its absence from the festival lineup was due to timing and distribution issues rather than a lack of interest, instead focusing it as "a straight commercial release".. However, on September 1, it was announced that the film will have its world premiere in the Main Slate of the 2026 New York Film Festival on October 5, followed by a Gala screening at 2026 BFI London Film Festival on October 11. In September 2026, the official release date was announced as December 25, 2026.

References

External links

Artificial at IMDb