Andrew Garfield plays down Oscar buzz as 'Artificial' gets loud London premiere
Andrew Garfield laughed off early Oscar talk as Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial’ met a loud London crowd at its U.K. premiere.
Garfield reacted to the awards buzz on the red carpet at the Royal Festival Hall on Sunday, 11 October 2026. Variety reported a resounding reception for the film at the 70th BFI London Film Festival. Garfield appeared alongside director Guadagnino and co-star Yura Borisov.
The film is an origin story of OpenAI and its co-founder Sam Altman, according to the BFI. Garfield plays Altman. Simon Rich is credited as a writer. The BFI, which programmed the film in its Galas strand for big-ticket premieres, said Garfield “has rarely been better” as the tech entrepreneur.
London followed fast on New York. ‘Artificial’ held its world premiere at the New York Film Festival one week earlier. It joined the London programme as a late additional title. The BFI listed the screening for 21:00 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
The festival run caps a sharp turnaround in distribution. ‘Artificial’ was nearly finished when Amazon MGM Studios dropped it from its summer slate in June, Variety reported. The studio said: “We believe that ‘Artificial’ will be better served if it were released by a different studio.” Neon then acquired global rights.
That exit came about three months after Amazon signed a partnership with OpenAI that included a $50 billion investment. In July, New York magazine reported, citing individuals close to the project, that the film had “lacked theater-worthy criteria.” That description remains an unattributed report, not a stated reason from the studio.
What makes this stand out is the response since. ‘Artificial’ holds a 96% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That is the highest score of Guadagnino’s career across 11 feature releases. Garfield’s turn as Altman had already been named by Variety in its ‘2026 Most Anticipated Film Performances, Ranked’ list in January.
The debate around artificial intelligence off screen continues. At New York Comic Con, Nicolas Cage said he refused to sign a document permitting AI use of his likeness for Amazon’s now-cancelled series ‘Spider-Noir’.
Neon now steers ‘Artificial’ into awards season with festival heat behind it. No release date detail was confirmed in the festival materials.
