Andrew Garfield Plays Sam Altman in First Trailer for ‘Artificial’ Drama About OpenAI Coup

Neon has released the first teaser for Luca Guadagnino’s biopic “Artificial” (“Challengers,” “Call Me by Your Name”). The film reconstructs the events surrounding OpenAI and one of the most dramatic splits in Silicon Valley history. Andrew Garfield plays the company’s CEO, Sam Altman.

November Rebellion and Star-Studded Cast

Simon Rich’s screenplay focuses on the events of November 2023, when the board of OpenAI’s nonprofit arm abruptly ousted Sam Altman for “lack of candor.” The move sparked a staff revolt: hundreds of engineers threatened to quit and join Microsoft, forcing the board to capitulate and reinstate Altman as CEO five days later.

According to the official program of the New York Film Festival, the film boasts an impressive ensemble cast:

• Monica Barbaro (“Top Gun: Maverick”) plays Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati;
• Mark Rylance appears as deep learning pioneer Geoffrey Hinton;
• Ike Barinholtz transforms into Elon Musk;
• The cast also includes Yura Borisov, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Hoffman, and Chris O’Dowd.

Amazon’s Exit and Festival Premiere

The film’s production journey was fraught with corporate intrigue. The project, with a budget of around $40 million, was developed by Amazon MGM Studios. However, this summer the company abruptly relinquished distribution rights — a move that coincided with the strategic partnership between its cloud platform AWS and OpenAI. As the Associated Press notes, independent studio Neon, known for its Oscar campaigns for arthouse hits, acquired the rights to the finished film.

The studio has yet to confirm rumors of a December 25 theatrical release. The film’s official debut will be its world premiere on October 5, 2026, in the main slate of the 64th New York Film Festival. According to TheWrap, the film runs 2 hours and 20 minutes, with the distributor set to announce the wide theatrical release date after the festival premiere.