Chris O’Dowd to star in Artificial

Chris O’Dowd is set to star in Artificial.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Bridesmaids actor has joined the cast of Luca Guadagnino's comedic drama, which is reported to be a recounting of the rocky period at OpenAI in 2023 where CEO Sam Altman was fired and rehired in a matter of days.

Andrew Garfield, Cooper Koch, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Hoffman, Ike Barinholtz and Billie Lourd have already been cast in the ensemble film, which is currently shooting.

It is assumed that Garfield is portraying Altman, while Borisov takes on the role of Ilya Sutskever - a co-founder who led the movement to remove Altman from OpenAI, and A Complete Unknown actress Barbaro playing chief technology officer Mira Murati.

No details on O’Dowd’s role have been revealed.

Writer Simon Rich has penned the script and is producing 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 for 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.”