The Studio’s Ike Barinholtz is set to play Elon Musk in Artificial, the Luca Guadagnino-directed film about Sam Altman and OpenAI.
Barinholtz was nominated for an Emmy for his role as production executive Sal Saperstein in the acclaimed comedy series co-created by, among others, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, as well as acting as one of the co-creators of Kate Hudson sports-comedy series Running Point.
Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI in 2015, along with Altman and a string of others; however, he left the company in 2018 and started a rival firm called xAI in 2023. Musk and OpenAI have been at loggerheads since, with a string of legal claims on both sides. Musk has accused OpenAI of abandoning its original charitable mission by establishing a for-profit subsidiary, and in August 2024 launched legal action against the company claiming he was manipulated into co-founding it, saying: “The perfidy and deceit is of Shakespearean proportions.” Musk subsequently attempted a takeover of the company in 2025; his $97.4bn bid for OpenAI was rebuffed, with Altman posting on social media: “no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want.” In April, OpenAI countersued Musk for what it claimed were his “malicious campaigns” and “harassing legal claims”.
Although plot details have not been confirmed, Guadagnino’s film is said to concentrate on the brief period of behind-the-scenes drama when Altman was fired and re-hired as OpenAI CEO within a matter of days in November 2024. The board had claimed Altman was not “consistently candid in his communications”, but Altman was reinstated after many of the company’s employees threatened to quit.
Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro and Anora’s Yura Borisov have reportedly been cast in the film, though their roles have not been clarified. The writer has been confirmed as novelist Simon Rich, a former contributor to the Observer and writer of Rogen comedy An American Pickle. Guadagnino has just completed thriller After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri and Garfield, which is due to receive its world premiere at the Venice film festival.
