Guadagnino premieres OpenAI drama Artificial in New York
Luca Guadagnino brought Silicon Valley's messiest boardroom fight to Lincoln Center on 5 October, when his bio-comedy drama Artificial had its world premiere at Alice Tully Hall in New York City, according to Deadline.
The film is a true-life story played for laughs and drama. It centres on OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, played by Andrew Garfield, and his firing and rehiring by the artificial intelligence company.
Garfield shares the lead with Yura Borisov, who plays OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, the festival's film page notes. The wider ensemble maps the tech world around them. Monica Barbaro plays former chief technology officer Mira Murati, Cooper Hoffman plays co-founder Greg Brockman, and Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk.
The premiere guest list mixed cast and film-makers. Guadagnino, Garfield, Borisov and Barinholtz walked the carpet with Billie Lourd, Jason Schwartzman, Tom Quinn, Will Price, Nicholas Hamilton and Will Angus.
The launch came late in the 64th New York Film Festival, which ran from 25 September to 12 October 2026. Artificial was added to the Main Slate, the festival's core line-up, for its first public screening anywhere, according to FilmLinc.
It was one of four world premieres in that slate, alongside Ava DuVernay's 14th and Tony Gilroy's Behemoth!, among others.
Guadagnino directed and co-produced the film from a script by Simon Rich. Rich also produces with David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford and Jennifer Fox.
The release plan is set. Artificial opens in theatres in the United States on 25 December, then in the United Kingdom on 22 January 2027.
What makes this stand out is the speed. Boardroom rows rarely reach the big screen this fast. Guadagnino has put real names, real job titles and a very recent headline into a Christmas release.
