Andrew Garfield Fields Oscar Buzz for 'Artificial' After London Premiere

Andrew Garfield is already in the Oscar conversation for playing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in Luca Guadagnino's "Artificial" — a film that does not reach U.S. theaters until Dec. 25. Speaking to Variety on the red carpet at the London Film Festival premiere on Sunday, the twice-nominated, never-winning actor kept his reaction humble.

"As I'm getting older, I'm starting to understand that the things outside of ourselves, we just have no control over. And the only consistent thing for me is trying to make work that I feel proud of," Garfield said. "I feel really, really proud of this film … It was a really, really intense shoot. And then I'm so flattered that anyone is going to see this film in the first place, let alone talk so nicely about it. That's my genuine response. I try and keep it in that perspective."

"Artificial" dramatizes the five-day period in 2023 when Altman was fired by OpenAI and then rehired. The film earned rave reviews after its world premiere at the New York Film Festival last week. Garfield will campaign in the supporting actor category; his co-star, "Anora" breakout Yura Borisov — who plays OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, the board member who ousted Altman — will campaign in lead.

Borisov, nominated for a supporting actor Oscar for "Anora" in 2024, was more succinct about the awards talk. "It's a miracle!" he said, adding: "It's unpredictable, I don't know what to say. I'm really curious how people will feel. I'll see what happens."

Who else appears in the film?

The cast joined Garfield and Borisov on the London carpet:

• Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati
• Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk
• Mark Rylance as "Godfather of AI" Geoffrey Hinton

Asked about the film's timeliness, Garfield pointed to the figures currently dominating AI coverage. "It's here, it's now. And the timing couldn't be more exciting and important, I think, because it's about the figures that are in the news right now," he said, naming Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Elon as "the major players that are kind of governing and holding the reins of this new technology, or occasionally losing the reins."

Barbaro echoed him: "I think AI is being used everywhere, in every industry. It's kind of the No. 1 conversation right now, and I think that's important to sort of question the motives of those who have created that kind of technology that has that much power."

Why did Amazon drop the film?

"Artificial" carried controversy before a single public screening. Amazon MGM Studios dropped the film in June, shortly after Amazon invested $50 billion in OpenAI. Neon then picked it up and is now mounting its awards campaign.

Altman addressed the saga for the first time in a Vanity Fair interview last week. He said he spoke to no one at Amazon about the decision, including Jeff Bezos, and "I don't know of anyone else who did." He also revealed the production filmed outside his house and claimed he waved at Garfield, conceding the actor nailed his walk and "quirky mannerisms."

Garfield, for his part, does not remember the moment. "I heard him say that and I was like, I would have remembered," he told Variety. "I was so aware of looking for him when we were shooting near his house and on those streets. I didn't see him and I was very, very disappointed that I didn't. It was thrilling, it was exciting and terrifying. We were right outside his house, but no, I didn't see him."

How did Guadagnino shoot Silicon Valley?

Inside the Royal Festival Hall, Guadagnino introduced the film alongside his cast to rigorous applause. The director of "Call Me by Your Name" and "Challengers" admitted "Artificial" was "the most complicated movie to imagine because the world of the Silicon Valley is the least seductive visually." He added: "I hope you will be seduced by the movie, though. It was a lot of research, very, very deep, extensive research."

Garfield, reuniting with Guadagnino after last year's "After the Hunt," called the collaboration "irresistible" — with a wink. "Luca is irresistible as a filmmaker, and Luca combined with such a juxtaposed world on its own is irresistible. Like, how is he going to make this erotic?" he said. "You'll see how he made it erotic. He finds the nooks and the crannies."

Garfield also disclosed an "old dangling thread" connecting "Artificial" to "The Social Network," in which he played Eduardo Saverin. He auditioned for Mark Zuckerberg and was told the part was his for a few weeks. "I started to immerse myself in Mark and then [producer] David Heyman called me to his office and said, 'Well, there's a better guy for it,'" Garfield recalled. He said imagining himself into that tech-founder role — "leading humanity into this next chapter" — prefigured his approach to Altman. "I'm still deeply curious about Sam, he's unfolding before our eyes as we speak and it's kind of endlessly fascinating, like AI itself I guess."

Barinholtz drew laughter with his Musk prep: "I had never heard of him. Just not a news guy!" On a serious note, he said the story predates "DOGE and chainsaws and kind of crazy behavior," taking place when Musk "really was looked at like a god, especially amongst these Silicon Valley people." He recalled Guadagnino directing the ensemble: "Every time Elon walked into the room, if one of the cast members was not in awe of him, Luca would come up like: 'This is Elon Musk! You need to be like, oh my God!'"

Audience members laughed and gasped in horror as OpenAI's founding and 2023 unraveling played out on screen, and enthusiastic clapping echoed through the Royal Festival Hall as the credits rolled. With Neon's campaign underway and a Dec. 25 U.S. release — Jan. 22 in the U.K. — the film's momentum now moves from festival halls to awards voters.