Altman Says ‘Artificial’ Filmed Outside His House and He Waved at Andrew Garfield: ‘He Did Walk Like Me … I Felt I Was in Some Weird Glitch of the Simulation’
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has never met Andrew Garfield, who is portraying him in Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming film Artificial, but he did wave at him once.
Altman: Ousted and Rehired in 5 Days
In a new cover story with Vanity Fair, the controversial tech exec addressed the movie for the first time, which depicts the five-day period in 2023 when he was ousted from OpenAI and then rehired.
Altman has seen the trailer and said of Garfield: “He did walk like me.” He then claimed that some scenes were filmed outside of his house, and one day he actually ran into the production.
Altman confirmed that he and Garfield have never spoken, saying: “I waved at him that one time and that was it.”
Garfield has been open about opting not to meet with Altman to prepare for the role, telling Esquire: “I’ve never met him. I was going off of the script and court transcripts and interviews and research, and we were telling a story. But 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.”
Altman did not speak to anyone at Amazon about the movie, including Jeff Bezos, and “I don’t know of anyone else who did,” he said.
“Artificial” does not offer a very complimentary portrait of Altman, but he told Vanity Fair he isn’t expecting it to be an “accurate depiction.”
“I will say from having watched the trailer, I don’t think they’re going for accuracy,” Altman 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.”
Altman said that the clip in the trailer where he rushes into a bunker with guns on the wall is not accurate. “There’s no bunker with firearms on the wall,” he said. “That’s an example of inaccuracy, but I did look kind of cool.”
Guadagnino had said that he isn’t wary of potential backlash from Altman and his other OpenAI associates depicted in the film. “I don’t know — maybe they love the movie,” he added: “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.”
Read Altman’s full Vanity Fair profile here.
