Luca Guadagnino's Film 'Artificial' Debuts at New York Film Festival
The director's new movie, starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, premiered at the 2026 New York Film Festival and will be released by NEON on Christmas Day.
Luca Guadagnino’s latest feature, "Artificial," opened the 2026 New York Film Festival with a performance by Damon Albarn and a youth choir preceding the screening. The film dramatizes the rise of OpenAI, focusing on CEO Sam Altman, portrayed by Andrew Garfield, and key figures such as Ilya Sutskever and CTO Mira Murati.
Garfield described the project as an exploration of humanity’s obsession with transcending the body, while the screenplay, written by Simon Rich, blends dark comedy with sci-fi elements. The cast also includes Yura Borisov as a teenage Sutskever, Mark Rylance as mentor Geoffrey Hinton, and Monica Barbaro as Murati.
"It feels like we’re in a movie!" – Mark Rylance’s character Geoffrey Hinton says during a meta-theatrical moment.
Critics note that the film adopts a satirical tone, depicting Altman’s ambition and the ethical tensions surrounding artificial intelligence development. Scenes portray the corporate shift of OpenAI from a nonprofit to a for-profit model and the resulting debates over safety safeguards.
The production features cinematography by Malik Hassan Sayeed and a score by Damon Albarn, which together aim to convey the unsettling atmosphere of rapid technological change. NEON has scheduled a theatrical release for December 25.