Everything to Know About Luca Guadagnino’s Silicon Valley Comedy Artificial

With zombies, ballet witches, and tennis love triangles conquered, Luca Guadagnino is tackling the specter of artificial intelligence and its epochal implications. Artificial, a film loosely based on the drama behind the scenes at CEO Sam Altman’s OpenAI, the Silicon Valley behemoth behind ChatGPT, will be the Italian director’s latest provocation.

While Guadagnino made his name with taut romances like Call Me By Your Name, Bones & All, and Queer and Challengers, he’s been branching out lately with films like After the Hunt and now, Artificial. Below, everything we know about the film so far:

Who is in the Artificial cast?

The confirmed cast includes Oscar-nominee Andrew Garfield (who also stars in Guadagnino’s campus thriller After the Hunt alongside Julia Roberts and Ayo Edebiri), Oscar-nominated Anora actor Yura Borisov, and Cooper Koch, who received a Golden Globe nod for his recent turn as Erik Menendez in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

On July 29, it was announced that A Complete Unknown star Monica Barbaro would also be joining the cast. (Barbaro and Garfield are currently dating).

The Studio’s Ike Barinholtz is also reportedly in talks to join the cast.

The roles are yet to be officially confirmed, but it’s rumored that Garfield might portray Altman, Borisov could play Ilya Sutskever, and should Barinholtz join, he may step into Elon Musk’s shoes. (Perhaps Barbarbo will play Grimes?) This is, of course, Garfield’s second foray into a drama centered on the founding of a generation-defining tech company, following his role as Mark Zuckerberg’s frenemy Eduardo Saverin in 2010’s The Social Network.

What is the plot of Artificial?

Plot details are being kept under wraps so far; all we know for sure is that Artificial is described as a comedic drama set in the world of artificial intelligence. Unconfirmed sources (per Deadline) indicate that the film is based on the events of 2023, when Altman was fired and rehired as OpenAI’s CEO within just a few days. Given the excessive theatrics playing out in the tech sector for the past few years (especially with Altman and his foil, Musk, nakedly vying for political power), there’s plenty of ripe material for Guadagnino and Artificial screenwriter Simon Rich to draw from.

How is Jonathan Anderson involved?

Anderson will find time in his busy schedule as creative director at Dior to reunite with Guadagnino on costumes for Artificial, according to WWD.

In the past, the two collaborated on the costumes for Challengers and Queer. In a conversation for W, Guadagnino said of the pair’s first meeting: “He doesn’t know this, but I was stalking him. I saw the first JW Anderson collection, and I was like, What the fuck? It was a revelation. When the opportunity arose, we met and very quickly became friends.”

Anderson added: “We think alike about many different things...we’re very similar in terms of pursuing the idea of taste, or being challenged by aesthetics, or what is interesting in furniture or ceramics or film or photography or whatever creative field—there’s a compulsion to know.”

It’ll be interesting to see Anderson’s take on Silicon Valley style. Can a Patagonia fleece vest ever be chic?

When is the Artificial release date?

There is no release date yet for Artificial; stay tuned for updates.