After his DC Studios Sgt. Rock film fell through, director Luca Guadagnino is moving fast on his next project and is eyeing stars like Andrew Garfield (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) for lead roles. Guadagnino has become one of the most acclaimed and in-demand directors working today, and in 2024, he had two critically acclaimed films hit theaters, Challengers and Queer. The busy filmmaker has several projects lined up, including a remake of American Psycho and the previously planned DC superhero movie that was put on hold due to shooting conflicts. However, Guadagnino has found his next project, one that is building momentum quickly.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Guadagnino has signed to direct Amazon MGM’s Artificial, a drama about the artificial intelligence company OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who was fired in 2023 only to be rehired in a matter of days. Garfield is being eyed to play Sam Altman. 2024 Academy Award nominees Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) and Yura Borisov (Anora) are also being eyed for lead roles. Barbaro would play former Open AI chief technology officer Mira Murati, while Borisov would portray Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder who led the movement to oust Altman. No actors have officially signed on, but the goal is to start filming the film later this summer.
The New ‘Social Network’?
Artificial marks Luca Guadagnino’s third film with Amazon MGM Studios, as they previously released 2024’s Challengers and are set to distribute his upcoming film, After the Hunt, in October 2025, which also happens to star Andrew Garfield. Garfield himself is no stranger to biopics centered on a major figure ousted from a major tech company, as he burst onto the scene with his role as Eduardo Savrin, one of the co-founders of Facebook, in The Social Network. Like David Fincher’s modern classic, Artificial is from a high-profile, critically acclaimed director about a new technology that has emerged over the last few years and changed the way humans live.
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The headlines around artificial intelligence, particularly companies like OpenAI and generative AI art, have become a hot topic for many in the entertainment industry. A number of productions have been caught using AI and have received considerable blowback. Lucasfilm and ILM even released a Star Wars short film with AI to embarrassing results. However, several other projects have been falsely accused of using AI, as people have now become trained to see it even when it isn’t there. It is a sensitive topic, and Guadagnino will need to walk a fine line in how he engages with the material.
It is interesting that following Sgt. Rock falling apart, Guadagnino decided to sign on to Artificial instead of his previously announced titles. Not only is the director set to helm the American Psycho remake, but he is also working on Separate Rooms, the adaptation of Pier Vittorio Tondelli’s novel Camere separate, which has Josh O’Connor and Léa Seydoux signed on. American Psycho might not be ready yet, though it now raises questions about what Guadagno will decide to follow up with after Artificial. Reports suggest Sgt. Rock production could be delayed until 2026, but will Guadagnino still have interest in helming the WWII DCU film by then, or will he move on to his other commitments?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
