After the excellent response to his latest films, "Challengers" and "Queer," director Luca Guadagnino shows no signs of slowing down and is already looking to new projects on the horizon. Always surrounded by international stars who showcase his sensitivity and directorial flair, Guadagnino began filming "Artificial" earlier this month, a film inspired by the research company OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, one of the most well-known and widely used artificial intelligence systems in the world.

Confirmation of the start of filming came via an announcement from the Turin Film Commission, which has opened a casting call for extras from northern Italy, with filming scheduled between July and September .

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be shot in Italy and California. The screenplay is by Simon Rich, and the cast includes prominent names such as Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro, Melissa Barrera, and Yura Borisov.

The idea to begin work on "Artificial" arose following the postponement of "Sgt. Rock," the new DC Studios title starring Colin Farrell, and "Separate Rooms," an adaptation of Pier Vittorio Tondelli's novel, which was planned to star Léa Seydoux and Josh O'Connor. Specifically, the title, produced by Amazon MGM Studios, is inspired by the crisis OpenAI faced in 2023, during the shocking ousting and swift reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman.

Among the protagonists of the story, particular attention will be given to Ilya Sutskever, the company's co-founder and former chief scientist, who played a crucial role in the development of deep learning. At the same time, the figure of Elon Musk will be explored in greater depth, portrayed in an ambiguous and controversial light like never before.

In previous statements, Simon Rich has clarified that the film will focus less on Altman's charismatic figure than on the enigmatic and idealistic Sutskever, played by Yura Borisov, who previously starred in the extraordinary "Anora." A human portrait emerges, suspended between ethics and ambition, trapped in the very mechanism of power he himself helped build. A draft of the script obtained by Puck reads: "After some fundamental discoveries, Sutskever is exploited, sidelined, and ultimately betrayed by Altman and the surrounding technological ecosystem, with potentially catastrophic consequences for humanity."

Meanwhile, online rumors about Musk's treatment are beginning to circulate. According to Puck, the Tesla and X founder will appear in the film as "an early investor in OpenAI who later became a bitter rival." An anonymous source adds: "He's a minor character, especially after he attempts to merge OpenAI with Tesla and then withdraws his funding when he's rebuffed."

Interestingly, the figure of Elon Musk seems to be attracting interest from both Hollywood and Italy. Following the official announcement of the biopic directed by Darren Aronofsky in 2023, a source close to WordofReel confirms that the project is still "in early development" and that filming will begin this fall, "right after Aronofsky wraps up the promotion for Caught Stealing."

The film will focus in particular on the childhood and youth of the South African tycoon: from living in South Africa with his father Errol, a “charismatic fantasist” engineer, and his mother Maye, a dietician, to his rise to CEO of Space X and Tesla.

Meanwhile, "The Musk" is starting to take shape in Italy, an eight-episode satirical comedy written by and starring Corrado Guzzanti, who returns to politics and current affairs after the successes of "Where's Mario?" and "Boris." Still in full development, the project will see Guzzanti joined by Diego Abatantuono, Antonio Catania, Francesco Pannofino, and Stefano Fresi.

Giovanni Scanu

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