Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | News | July 23, 2025
Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Challengers) is trying to do to Sam Altman and OpenAI what David Fincher did to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook with Artificial, a film currently in production about the early years of OpenAI. It may be too early—because the story of OpenAI hasn’t been fully written — but then, the story of Facebook was also far from complete in 2010 when Fincher unleashed The Social Network.
What we do know is that it won’t be a flattering depiction. The script portrays Sam Altman as a “liar and master schemer,” while Elon Musk — who has a smaller role in the film — is depicted as a “dictator”-like figure. The film will mostly center on the five-day period in 2023 when the OpenAI board briefly fired Altman, replaced him with Mira Murati, and ultimately had to rehire him after employees revolted.
The cast continues to come together. Andrew Garfield will play Altman (he was also in The Social Network), his girlfriend, Monica Barbaro, is set to play Mira Murati, and Yura Borisov (Anora) will portray OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever.
And now they’ve cast their Elon Musk, whose role I suspect will be the equivalent of Justin Timberlake’s turn as Napster’s Sean Parker in The Social Network. Musk will be played by… Ike Barinholtz.
Barinholtz, who is having a moment thanks to The Studio, is great. Musk is not. The thing about Barinholtz (also excellent on The Mindy Project and in Blockers) is that he can play exceedingly annoying—and that makes him infinitely suitable for the role.
Artificial comes from screenwriter Simon Rich (novelist, creator of Miracle Workers, SNL writer, friend of John Mulaney). Filming is underway, and it’s expected to be released in 2026 and probably compete for all the awards.
