Sam Altman has finally addressed the Artificial film, Luca Guadagnino’s dramatization of the five days in 2023 when the OpenAI board fired its chief executive and then rehired him. Altman has never spoken to Andrew Garfield, who plays him, but the pair did share a wave after production arrived outside the executive’s home.
In a Vanity Fair cover story, Altman said he had watched the trailer and identified at least one persuasive detail in Garfield’s performance: “He did walk like me.” The resemblance became considerably stranger when Altman encountered the production by accident.
How did Sam Altman encounter Andrew Garfield?
Altman said filming notices had appeared on his street, though he initially ignored them. Then, while walking out to get coffee one morning, he found cameras nearby and a man dressed exactly like him, complete with a matching backpack.
“There were all these cameras and there was a guy dressed exactly like me with my same backpack walking so much that I felt I was in some weird glitch of the simulation or something,” Altman said. “It was very strange. And then I immediately figured out what was happening.”
The two men acknowledged each other without turning the encounter into a summit on artificial intelligence, corporate governance or dramatic interpretation.
“We waved and went on, but it was really weird,” Altman said. “I mean, it’s like a strange thing to see someone that has nailed your kind of quirky mannerisms or whatever.”
Asked whether he and Garfield had ever spoken, Altman was clear: “I waved at him that one time and that was it.”
Why did Andrew Garfield avoid meeting Altman?
Garfield previously said he deliberately prepared for the role without meeting Altman. Speaking to Esquire U.K. in August, the actor explained that he relied on the screenplay, court transcripts, interviews and other research.
“I’ve never met him,” Garfield said. “I was going off of the script and court transcripts and interviews and research, and we were telling a story.”
He also offered a rather sharper assessment of the mindset required to lead a company developing powerful artificial intelligence.
“I think anyone who takes on that level of responsibility for a company or a technology that you know is going to do a hell of a lot of damage to the soul of humanity [must have] a certain ability to dissociate,” Garfield said.
That approach apparently produced an accurate walk, even if Altman disputes much of what surrounds it.
Did OpenAI influence the film’s distribution?
Altman was also asked about Amazon MGM Studios dropping the film after Amazon invested $50 billion in OpenAI. Neon subsequently took over distribution, with the movie scheduled to premiere on Monday at the New York Film Festival.
The timing naturally invited questions about whether the OpenAI chief or anyone around him had intervened. Altman denied speaking to anybody at Amazon about the project, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
“I don’t know of anyone else who did,” he added.
Reports have described the film as an unflattering portrait of Altman. He does not appear especially surprised by that prospect, nor does he expect Guadagnino’s production to function as a documentary record of the 2023 boardroom crisis.
What does Altman think the movie gets wrong?
After watching the trailer, Altman concluded that factual precision was not the production’s main objective.
“I don’t think they’re going for accuracy,” he said. “So in that sense, no, it doesn’t bother. I mean, they’re trying to make a good movie and maybe it will be good. I don’t know. Good as a movie. It will not be good as an accurate depiction. Except for the walk.”
He cited a trailer scene in which his character rushes into a bunker lined with firearms. According to Altman, no such bunker exists.
“There’s no bunker with firearms on the wall,” he said. “That’s an example of inaccuracy, but I did look kind of cool.”
Historical accuracy may therefore be negotiable, while looking impressive in a fictional weapons bunker remains acceptable compensation.
Guadagnino, meanwhile, said in a recent Vulture interview that he was not concerned about a backlash from Altman or the other OpenAI figures portrayed in the movie.
“I don’t know, maybe they love the movie,” the director said. “I’m not afraid. I think that people that have a lot of power should be very much aware that you must be responsible for the community.”
Whether Altman loves the finished result remains unknown. So far, his strongest review is reserved for Garfield’s walk, the one element that apparently survived Hollywood’s usual negotiations with reality.
