“Artificial,” director Luca Guadagnino‘s new movie about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is set to make its world premiere at this year’s New York Film Festival.
Andrew Garfield stars as Altman in the new film, which has made headlines in recent months after original distributor Amazon MGM chose in June to drop the movie. The studio’s move was heavily criticized, especially given that it was done just a few months after Amazon signed a $50 billion partnership deal with Altman’s OpenAI in February.
Neon picked the film up and New York Film Festival attendees will get to see what all the fuss has been about when “Artificial” has its world premiere screening at the Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on Oct. 5. Both Garfield and Guadagnino are expected to attend the premiere, as are a number of the film’s other stars, including Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov, Ike Barinholtz, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman and Chris O’Dowd.
“The most remarkable thing about Luca Guadagnino’s sly and sobering new film is that it finds the perfect tone to tell the story of how we arrived at the AI precipice,” NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim said in a statement Tuesday. “‘Artificial’ traces this trajectory with clear-eyed horror, dark humor, and a sense of existential urgency. If ever there was a movie for its moment, this is it.”
Written by “Miracle Workers” and “Man Seeking Woman” creator Simon Rich, “Artificial” explores the period in OpenAI’s history when Altman was infamously fired and then rehired by the tech company. In addition to Garfield’s portrayal of Altman, the film is set to feature turns from Barinholtz as OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk, Barbaro as OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and Borisov as OpenAI Chief Science Officer Ilya Sutskever.
“Artificial” is the latest buzzy title to join this year’s NYFF lineup. The festival is also hosting screenings this year of James Gray’s Cannes hit “Paper Tiger,” the Ava DuVernay-directed doc “14th,” Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” and “Andor” creator Tony Gilroy’s music drama “Behemoth!” starring Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde. The festival kicks off Sept. 25 and runs through Oct. 12.
“Artificial” notably marks a return to the NYFF scene for Guadagnino, whose last film, “After the Hunt,” opened the festival in 2025.
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