Andrew Garfield's Record-Breaking New Movie Gets Official First Reactions

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.Andrew Garfield's new movie Artificial has received its first reactions. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Artificial sees Garfield playing controversial OpenAI CEO Sam Altman when he is fired and rehired in 2023. Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder of OpenAI who fires Altman, is played by Yura Borisov, while Elon Musk is portrayed by Ike Barinholtz. With a rating of PG-13, the film breaks the record of being Guadagnino's first movie to not be rated R or receive no rating from the MPA. After premiering at the New York Film Festival, film critics are sharing their first reactions to Artificial. Comparing it to The Social Network, Joshua Rothkopf declares, "Luca Guadagnino just ate Sorkin’s lunch. In every way, ARTIFICIAL is the spiritual sequel to THE SOCIAL NETWORK, threading together betrayal, broken ethics and humor — and arriving at a vision as scary as COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT. Damon Albarn’s Bowie-esque score ftw." Clayton Davis hails Artificial as "Guadagnino's best film in a decade, with Andrew Garfield and Yura Borisov soaring to new heights. Loved it." Gregory Ellwood also has high praise for Garfield's performance and for the movie as a whole: "In a year of filmmakers warning us the end is coming Artificial is a sledgehammer. My lord. And not that he needs it, but Andrew Garfield gives Sam Altman the most epic character assassination ever." When looking at Garfield's entire career, Matt Neglia argues that Artificial "delivers one of his most unsettling and transformative performances as Sam Altman, equally capturing his disarming charm and unnerving malice." He also praises the movie for being "a brilliantly written human story about power, control, ambition, and greed that might be the most urgently relevant film of our time." While Joey Magidson feels that "Artificial runs out of steam before the end," he writes that "for much of its running time, it’s a pitch black and often savage comedy about the irresponsibility in regards to AI that might be our doom. Andrew Garfield skewers Sam Altman, while Ike Barinholtz steals his scenes as Elon Musk." Beyond being a dark comedy, Jairo Jiménez describes it as a "feverish, visceral corporate drama that proves what is truly artificial was never in the machines, but in the boardroom. An essential film." In an additional post, Jiménez describes Garfield's performance as "terrifyingly precise in ARTIFICIAL. He captures Sam Altman’s chillingly polite, messianic aura in a brilliant balancing act of manic genius and corporate coldness. Absolutely electric!" While Greg Pomes is also impressed by Garfield's performance, writing that he "fully becomes Sam Altman" in "an intimate character study on a huge scale," he also highlights two of the movie's other stars: "Monica Barbaro is excellent as always. Yura Borisov is the real star here. This is the real sequel to The Social Network." The overwhelmingly positive first reactions position Artificial to be a strong contender for Best Picture at the 2027 Academy Awards. All the praise for Garfield and this being his all-time best performance make an acting nomination likely as well, and raise the chances of winning his first Oscar. According to Variety, Garfield will be competing in the Best Supporting Actor category while Borisov will be competing for Best Actor. More to come... Release Date December 25, 2026 Director Luca Guadagnino Writers Simon Rich Cast Yuriy Borisov Ilya Sutskever Jason Schwartzman Uncredited Cooper Hoffman Greg Brockman Producers David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, Jennifer Fox, Luca Guadagnino, Simon Rich