Andrew Garfield has officially signed on to star in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, just a month after it was reported that he was in early talks for the project. Additionally, Deadline reports that Cooper Koch, who broke out in a big way thanks to playing Erik Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, has also joined the cast. Anora‘s Yura Borisov will also star in the film, which is described as a “comedic drama set in the world of artificial intelligence.“
The film recounts the tumultuous period at artificial intelligence company OpenAI in 2023, when CEO Sam Altman was fired and rehired in a matter of days. It’s assumed that Garfield will play Altman, while Borisov will play Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder who led the movement to boot Altman out of the company. There is no word on who Koch will be playing. Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) remains in talks to play chief technology officer Mira Murati.
The script was penned by Simon Rich (Miracle Workers), who will also produce alongside Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford, as well as Jennifer Fox.
Guadagnino was initially slated to direct Sgt. Rock for DC Studios this summer, but the project was pushed back and the director quickly filled his schedule with Artificial. There’s still a chance Guadagnino could return to the project. No official reason has been given for the delay, though sources suggest it came down to scheduling conflicts due to the project’s plan to shoot outdoors. Production is now being eyed for summer 2026. There were also reported concerns about Guadagnino’s lack of experience with large-scale action.
As for Garfield, his next project also happens to be a Guadagnino flick. He stars alongside Julia Roberts and Ayo Edebiri in After the Hunt, a thriller in which a college professor (Roberts) finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light. The film will be released by Amazon MGM Studios on October 10.