Topline
Andrew Garfield portrays OpenAI co-founder and billionaire Sam Altman in the first trailer for the highly anticipated “Artificial,” which film distributor Neon released Tuesday ahead of the film’s December theatrical opening.
“Artificial” opens in theaters on Christmas Day. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
Neon released a one-minute teaser Tuesday in which Garfield delivers an unsettling monologue as Altman, declaring he would call OpenAI’s new product “ChatGPT” while acknowledging “we opened Pandora’s box together.”
“The future is inevitable,” Garfield’s Altman says, adding “countries will fall” and “industries are gonna collapse, and we get to be the ones to shepherd people into this new world.”
The trailer reveals few details about the plot, though scenes cut together in the teaser show Garfield’s Altman walking through a home into what appears to be a cellar with rifles on the walls.
The movie, directed by “Call Me By Your Name” and “Challengers” director Luca Guadagnino, will premiere in select theaters on Christmas Day, Neon announced Tuesday.
What Else Do We Know About “Artificial”?
Not much is known about the plot, though reports have indicated it will focus on the brief period in 2023 when Altman was ousted as OpenAI’s CEO and reinstated days later. In November 2023, the OpenAI board said it no longer had “confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” which prompted hundreds of employees to threaten to quit. “Anora” star Yura Borisov plays Ilya Sutskever, who was reportedly part of the effort to oust Altman before later expressing regret and signing the letter threatening to quit OpenAI. Ike Barinholtz will play billionaire Elon Musk, who co-founded the company, though his part is reportedly a supporting role. Rounding out the cast are Monica Barbaro as OpenAI’s former chief technology officer Mira Murati, who was briefly OpenAI’s interim CEO during Altman’s ouster, as well as Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Chris O’Dowd, Mark Rylance and Zosia Mamet. Matthew Belloni, entertainment reporter at Puck, previously claimed he obtained a copy of the script, saying Musk and Altman would “probably hate their portrayals” and that Musk is at one point referred to as a “dictator.” Belloni noted the script he saw was a draft and could have changed before filming.
key background
Earlier this year, it was unclear if “Artificial” would ever come out after its previous distributor, Amazon, backed out and others reportedly passed on it. Amazon said the movie would be “better served if it were released by a different studio, in an announcement that came months after the company struck a $50 billion investment deal with OpenAI. Neon, a film distributor that has been on a hot streak lately with seven straight Palme d’Or wins at the Cannes Film Festival, acquired the rights to “Artificial” in June.
what to watch for
“Artificial” will premiere next month at the New York Film Festival. “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, adding, “‘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.”
tangent
Billionaire movies are a hot commodity this fall, with “Musk,” a documentary on the Tesla billionaire by Alex Gibney, premiering Tuesday at the Venice Film Festival to positive reviews. Also opening in theaters next month are “The Social Reckoning,” a sequel to “The Social Network” that stars Jeremy Strong as Meta billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, as well as “You Can See Everything,” a documentary by Nathan Fielder about former Theranos billionaire Elizabeth Holmes.
further reading
‘Musk’ Documentary Portrays Tesla Billionaire As An ‘Unabashed Megalomaniac,’ First Reviews Say (Forbes)
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