Luca Guadagnino's Artificial had its world premiere at Alice Tully Hall during the New York Film Festival on October 6. The film, written by Simon Rich, dramatizes Sam Altman's 2023 firing and rehiring at OpenAI. Neon will release it in theaters on December 25.
Andrew Garfield stars as Altman, supported by Yura Borisov as co-founder Ilya Sutskever, Monica Barbaro as CTO Mira Murati, Cooper Hoffman as president Greg Brockman, and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. The ensemble covers a narrow window in recent tech history. Damon Albarn composed the score.
Early reactions from NYFF were strong. Critics described the film as "a pitch-perfect dark comedy about the absence of responsibility in the face of apocalyptic certainty" and "a blistering and furious reworking of The Social Network," according to The Wrap's roundup. Another called it "as entertaining as it is terrifying."
At the premiere, Garfield described his initial research on Altman: "This guy seems fucking great. He's honest. He's transparent. He's talking about regulation...incredibly charming and charismatic. And then you learn more about a person," he told Variety.
Artificial's path to screens was unusual. Amazon MGM acquired the film but dropped it on June 19 following the studio's $50 billion OpenAI partnership. Netflix and Focus Features subsequently passed. Neon ultimately acquired it, positioning the $40 million film for a Christmas Day platform release and potential awards season run.