Andrew Garfield signs on to Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial with Cooper Koch

Andrew Garfield has officially signed on to star in director Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial alongside Cooper Koch.

The Amazing Spider-Man actor, 41, is set to lead the filmmaker’s upcoming artificial intelligence movie with Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story breakout star Koch, 28, Deadline has said.

Described as a “comedic drama set in the world of artificial intelligence”, Artificial will reportedly be set in 2023 when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was fired and subsequently rehired at the company in a matter of days.

Anora’s Yura Borisov is also due to star in the film, though it has not been confirmed what role he has signed on to play.

While little is known about the character Koch will be playing in Artificial, it is assumed that Garfield is due to portray Altman, while Borisov takes on the role of Ilya Sutskever - a co-founder who led the movement to remove Altman from OpenAI.

A Complete Unknown’s Monica Barbaro is also still in talks to play chief technology officer Mira Murati.

Writer Simon Rich has penned the script and is set to produce alongside Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford, as well as Jennifer Fox.

Artificial will mark the third collaboration between Guadagnino and Amazin MGM Studios after they worked on 2024’s Challengers and the upcoming thriller After the Hunt, which also stars Garfield and is due to release in October.

When the project was announced in June, David Heyman said: “We’ve always wanted to work with Luca. His talent, his sensibility – he is a singular filmmaker, and I’m excited to be collaborating with him on this.”

Aside from Artificial and After the Hunt, Guadagnino is also working on a new movie adaptation of author Bret Easton Ellis’ 1991 novel American Psycho.

In April, the director teased “the script is coming out very handsomely” for the film as he and writer Scott Z. Burns continue to work on the movie.

Appearing in a video segment at CinemaCon, Guadagnino said: “We are really working hard to bring to the screen a new adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, a book that I deeply love that is something that influenced me so much.

“[Burns] is doing an incredible job. The script is coming out very handsomely.”

Although the director didn’t confirm casting details, he hinted he was in “conversation with very exciting performers to play the leads”.

Reports from December suggested Austin Butler had been lined up to play Patrick Bateman, the role made famous by Christian Bale in the original 2000 film.

Guadagnino’s version, however, won’t be a direct remake, and has instead been promised as a fresh approach with a heightened erotic tone compared to the original.

Lionsgate film chief Adam Fogelson has praised the director’s vision, calling him the “perfect visionary” to lead the project.

He said in a statement: “We are thrilled to add another elite filmmaker to our upcoming slate. Luca is a brilliant artist, and the perfect visionary to create a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP.”