Guadagnino's 'Artificial' Premieres to Rave Reviews — SkimNews
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- "Artificial" premiered at the New York Film Festival Monday night, with critics dubbing the OpenAI drama "provocative," a "visceral corporate drama," and Guadagnino's "best film in a decade"
- Andrew Garfield stars as Sam Altman, with Next Best Picture's Matt Neglia saying the performance captures both his "disarming charm and unnerving malice" in one of the actor's "most unsettling and transformative" roles
- Yura Borisov plays former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever in a film set during Altman's firing and rehiring at OpenAI in 2023, with the "Anora" breakout praised for bringing "intelligence and empathy" to the role
- Neon closed a deal in June to complete the $40 million film after Amazon MGM Studios dropped the project following its announcement of a major $50 billion partnership with OpenAI
- Guadagnino told Vulture he wasn't "afraid" of Altman's reaction to the film, saying "people that have a lot of power should be very much aware that you must be responsible for the community"
- Altman told Vanity Fair he once spotted a production crew member "dressed exactly like me with my same backpack" walking near his house, calling it "some weird glitch of the simulation"
- Neon will campaign Garfield and Mark Rylance in supporting actor, Borisov in lead actor, and Monica Barbaro in supporting actress for awards season, with "Artificial" opening in theaters Christmas Day
Why it matters: The film's production history mirrors its plot: Amazon MGM dropped "Artificial" after signing a $50 billion OpenAI partnership, and distributor Neon — with no such entanglement — completed the $40 million project, meaning the dramatization of AI's most powerful company's 2023 crisis reaches theaters without its biggest potential corporate conflict. Critical consensus across Deadline, IndieWire, and Variety positions the film as an awards-season player, with Variety calling it "the real sequel to 'The Social Network.'"
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