Luca Guadagnino's 'Artificial': First Reactions Call It a Triumph

Luca Guadagnino's "Artificial," a biographical dramedy about Sam Altman and the OpenAI boardroom crisis of November 2023, premiered Monday night at the New York Film Festival. Early social media reactions are in, and they are strong.

The film stars Andrew Garfield as Altman, with Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder who fires Altman. Monica Barbaro plays CTO Mira Murati, Cooper Hoffman plays board chairman Greg Brockman, and Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk. The cast also includes Jason Schwartzman, Chris O'Dowd, Mark Rylance, Zosia Mamet, Billie Lourd, Angus Imrie, Nicholas Hamilton and Thaddea Graham.

Simon Rich, the humorist and "Saturday Night Live" alum, wrote the script. Amazon MGM Studios developed the film and hired Guadagnino to direct, then dropped it after parent company Amazon signed a $50 billion deal with OpenAI. Neon acquired it with no upfront payment but a $15 million marketing commitment.

Most reactions describe the film as a dark comedy or horror comedy about the dangers of AI. One writer called it "Guadagnino's best film in a decade." Several compared it to Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Network," with one saying Guadagnino "just ate Sorkin's lunch."

Garfield's performance drew near-universal praise. Reviewers called it "terrifyingly precise," "mesmerizing, strange and terrifyingly seductive," and "the most epic character assassination ever." Borisov was repeatedly singled out as the film's moral center and MVP. Barinholtz's Elon Musk was described as "cartoonishly evil" and a scene-stealer.

Not every reaction was glowing. One critic wrote that the film "feels like one long narratively unfocused dream having a tonal identity crisis room to room." Another said it "runs out of steam before the end."

The film arrives at a moment when Hollywood is training its lens on tech leaders. Alex Gibney recently released "Musk," a documentary about the billionaire. Aaron Sorkin premiered "The Social Reckoning" on Sunday, a follow-up to "The Social Network" about Mark Zuckerberg. Nathan Fielder's "You Can See Everything," about Elizabeth Holmes, is also coming.

"Guadagnino guts Silicon Valley with his obsessive pulse and a powerful farce in which Andrew Garfield completely shines."

"Artificial" hits theaters Dec. 25.

• Andrew Garfield
• Artificial
• Luca Guadagnino
• Neon
• New York Film Festival
• OpenAI
• Sam Altman