In Brief:
- Andrew Garfield stars as Sam Altman in "Artificial," directed by Luca Guadagnino, which premiered Sunday at the London Film Festival.
- The film spans two decades of OpenAI, including Altman's 2023 firing and rehiring, with Yura Borisov and Mark Rylance in the cast.
- Garfield cited curiosity and fear as his motivation and did not meet Altman before filming.
Artificial Film: Andrew Garfield took on one of tech's most talked-about figures.
He says two feelings pushed him to do it. Those feelings were curiosity and fear.
Garfield stars as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in "Artificial."
Director Luca Guadagnino made the film. It premiered Sunday at the London Film Festival.
The story spans two decades. It traces how OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, was born and grew.
It also covers Altman's dramatic firing and rehiring in 2023.
Garfield says he wanted to understand the people shaping the future. "It was pure curiosity and fear," he said.
He wanted to know them as deeply as possible.
He also spoke about the pressure on tech leaders. He said they need courage, imagination and resilience.
They must handle heavy criticism while the world watches closely. Garfield believes that scrutiny matters.
"We need to know who's in power and who's creating our new world," he said.
This is not Garfield's first tech role. He also starred in "The Social Network," the 2010 film about Facebook's origins.
He did not meet or contact Altman before filming. Garfield said he feels real compassion for him.
Altman is close to his age. A movie is now being made about his life. Garfield stressed that the film is not the real Altman.
He called it an interpretation of the story and Altman's place in it.
OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. Altman told Vanity Fair he did not expect an accurate portrayal.
Simon Rich wrote the screenplay. He is an Emmy-winning writer for "Saturday Night Live."
Oscar-nominated Russian actor Yura Borisov plays Ilya Sutskever.
Sutskever co-founded OpenAI and served as its chief scientist. He left the company after his role in Altman's brief ouster.
The film explores the clash between Altman and Sutskever. They disagreed over ethics and AI safety.
Sutskever trained under Geoffrey Hinton, known as the "Godfather of AI." Mark Rylance plays Hinton.
Ike Barinholtz appears as Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Monica Barbaro plays Mira Murati, OpenAI's former chief technology officer.
Cameras rolled in 2025. The film arrives at a tense moment. Recent incidents at OpenAI and Anthropic have raised fears.
Some worry that rogue AI systems could slip beyond human control.
Barbaro said the timing made the project feel urgent. She described watching the real people her cast portrayed argue on Twitter while filming.
"It was really wild," she said. She called the experience both exciting and daunting. Her goal was to stay truthful.
But, she said, the truth seems to change every month.
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