Monica Barbaro Teases Luca Guadagnino's OpenAI Film 'Artificial': "A Madcap Comedy" One Day, "A Horror Story" the Next
Monica Barbaro has seen Luca Guadagnino's upcoming film Artificial, and she says the director himself could not settle on a single word for it. Guadagnino described the film as "a madcap comedy" on one day and "a horror story" on another, Barbaro told Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Barbaro, who plays former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, said the film encompasses all of those tones without confusion. Andrew Garfield stars as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The script comes from Simon Rich, inspired by real events, and Barbaro described the work as heavily researched, dealing with challenging material about people who are still alive.
The film recounts the tumultuous 2023 period at OpenAI, when Altman was briefly ousted and reinstated as CEO — though specific plot details have been kept under wraps since the project was first reported by Variety in June 2025. The cast also includes Yura Borisov, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Hoffman, Mark Rylance, and Chris O'Dowd, with Guadagnino directing.
Artificial has already had a longer journey to the screen than most. Amazon MGM Studios dropped the film in June 2026, months after Amazon entered a $50 billion investment with OpenAI. Neon, the independent distributor behind recent festival hits, later acquired it. Garfield told The Hollywood Reporter he is grateful to Amazon for helping the film find its new home and is excited to release it with Neon.
For a film about one of the most closely watched companies in technology, that corporate shuffle carries its own weight — the same studio group with a massive financial partnership in OpenAI decided not to distribute a film dramatising its leadership upheaval. Neon, which has no such tie, now handles the release.
Barbaro also addressed earlier comments by Timothée Chalamet, who said he would not want to be involved in an art form "no one cares about," citing ballet and opera as examples. Barbaro, who trained in ballet before pursuing acting, said Chalamet's remarks came from a place of respect and were about declining audiences rather than any dismissal of those art forms. She noted that Chalamet's sister is a dancer. Guadagnino, who has worked with Chalamet on multiple films, publicly defended the actor following those comments, as reported by Variety in April 2026.
Guadagnino's slate is crowded. Beyond Artificial, the director is also developing an American Psycho adaptation, as reported by Numéro in July 2026. No release date for Artificial has been announced.
