Andrew Garfield Plays Sam Altman in the Wild New Trailer for 'Artificial'

Andrew Garfield is taking on one of the most talked-about tech figures in the world, and the first trailer for Artificial has finally arrived. The new movie from director Luca Guadagnino tells the story of the dramatic events that shook OpenAI in 2023, when CEO Sam Altman was suddenly removed from his position before making a shocking return just days later. After everything that happened behind the scenes with the film itself, it is almost fitting that Artificial has taken such a strange road to the big screen.

The movie was originally set up at Amazon MGM Studios, but the studio later walked away from the project even though the film was already close to being finished. That decision quickly became a major talking point because Amazon had also entered into a huge partnership with OpenAI. The timing led to plenty of speculation about whether the deal had anything to do with the studio deciding to leave the movie behind. No official reason connected the two events, but the situation certainly made the film even more interesting before audiences had even seen it.

Neon eventually picked up the movie, giving Artificial a second chance. Now the first trailer has arrived, and it gives viewers their first proper look at Garfield as Altman. The actor appears to be going for a very different kind of performance, playing a real person who is still active in the tech world and remains one of the most recognizable names in artificial intelligence. The movie is scheduled to arrive in theaters around Christmas, putting it right in the middle of the awards season conversation.

At the center of Artificial is the chaotic five-day period in November 2023 that turned OpenAI into the biggest business story in the world. Altman was fired by the company’s board, employees reacted strongly, Microsoft became involved, and then Altman eventually returned to his position. It was an unbelievable sequence of events, and the movie is using that situation as the starting point for a much bigger story about the technology industry and the future of artificial intelligence.

Garfield has also explained that he had to approach the role without actually meeting Altman. Speaking to Esquire U.K., the actor said, “I don’t know Sam Altman. I’ve never met him.” Instead of using personal conversations with Altman to build the character, Garfield studied the screenplay, court documents, interviews, transcripts, and other research. That makes his performance especially interesting because he is creating his version of Altman based on public information rather than a private relationship with the man himself.

The movie has an impressive cast around Garfield. Yura Borisov plays OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, while Monica Barbaro takes on the role of former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati. Mark Rylance plays AI researcher Geoffrey Hinton, who has been widely described as one of the most important figures in the development of modern artificial intelligence. Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk, who was also involved with the early history of OpenAI. Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Hoffman, Chris O’Dowd, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Koch, and Billie Lourd are also part of the cast.

Artificial is also looking beyond the Altman drama itself. Festival materials describe the movie as exploring the rapid development of machine learning over the past two decades and the risks that can come with that progress. That means the film is not simply trying to recreate a famous corporate fight. It is also asking questions about where artificial intelligence is going and what happens when technology develops faster than people can control it.

The movie will make its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on October 5. That screening comes after the project was added to the festival lineup following the change in distributors. Neon is then expected to give the movie a limited theatrical run in late December, which could allow it to compete for awards during the busy end-of-year movie season.

Guadagnino is directing from a screenplay by Simon Rich, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live and other comedy projects. The film also has some serious talent behind the camera, with Malik Hassan Sayeed handling cinematography, Marco Costa editing, and Damon Albarn providing the score and original songs.