Andrew Garfield Plays Sam Altman in 'Artificial,' Which Premieres at London Film Festival
LONDON — Curiosity and fear powered actor Andrew Garfield's performance in Luca Guadagnino's OpenAI movie "Artificial," which premiered at the London Film Festival on Sunday, according to Reuters.
Garfield plays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in the film, which unfolds over two decades and chronicles the conception and growth of the super intelligence company behind ChatGPT, and Altman's dramatic firing and rehiring in 2023. "I think the reason I was drawn to it was just pure curiosity and fear and really trying to understand as deeply as possible the people who are ushering us into this next phase of the world," Garfield said. "There's a sense of courage and imagination and resilience these people at the top of these companies must have, the ability to withstand so much criticism and such a microscopic lens on them as people. And it's important that we do that because we need to know who's in power and who's creating our new world."
Garfield, who also starred in 2010's Facebook origin film "The Social Network," did not contact or meet with Altman in preparation for the role. "I don't know Sam and I have a lot of compassion for a person who's my age, almost, and there's a movie being made about him," Garfield said. "It's not him, but it's an idea of what this story is and his part in it." OpenAI did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Altman said he was not expecting an "accurate depiction."
With a screenplay by Emmy-winning "Saturday Night Live" writer Simon Rich, "Artificial" stars Russian Oscar nominee Yura Borisov as OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who left the company after his involvement in Altman's brief ouster. It follows the ethical differences and conflict over SI safety between Altman and Sutskever, who trained under Geoffrey Hinton — known as the "Godfather of AI" and portrayed in the film by Mark Rylance. Monica Barbaro plays former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati.
The gala screening took place at the Royal Festival Hall during the 70th BFI London Film Festival. Garfield walked the red carpet with Barbaro, his real-life partner, in a rare joint public appearance; the couple has been linked since February 2025. Guadagnino was joined by Borisov, Ike Barinholtz and Rylance, as well as producers David Heyman and Jennifer Fox and screenwriter Rich.
In November 2023, OpenAI's board abruptly fired Altman, setting off an uproar across Silicon Valley; amid fierce backlash from employees and investors, Altman was reinstated within days and the board was restructured — an episode widely seen as emblematic of the clash between SI commercialization and SI safety.
(Source: Reuters)
Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Andrew Garfield 红毯照（2025年威尼斯电影节），CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons，摄影：Colleen Sturtevant）
