Andrew Garfield, who portrays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in the upcoming film Artificial, is disputing the tech executive’s account of an encounter during production, insisting the two never interacted while filming outside Altman’s home.
In a recent interview with GQ, Garfield was asked about Altman’s previous claim that they waved to each other during the shoot. The actor said he was not present for the alleged exchange and had difficulty understanding Altman’s version of events.
“No, I saw that interview and I replayed it a few times to try and discern what he was actually saying, because I was very confused by that. I never had any interaction with him,” Garfield said.
“I’ve never seen him in real life. We were shooting outside of his house. It was an eerie day, for sure. We were told that he wasn’t home and his security people were there. I think I saw one security guard. But, no, I never saw Sam, so he maybe mistook someone else for me. I have no idea, but I’ve never waved at Sam. I’ve never seen him. I was curious about that.”
Garfield also clarified that he did not use a body double during filming, ruling out the possibility that Altman had mistaken another performer for him.
However, an OpenAI representative told the magazine that Altman was at home while the production was taking place and reiterated that he waved at Garfield.
Altman previously described the encounter in an interview with Vanity Fair, explaining that he initially had little idea why a film crew had appeared on his street.
“There were these notices on our street that there was going to be some filming or whatever. I didn’t realize what was going on. I paid no attention,” Altman said.
He recalled walking down the street one morning to get coffee when he noticed cameras and a person dressed almost exactly like him, carrying an identical backpack.
“And then one morning, I was walking down the street to get coffee and 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. It was very strange. And then I immediately figured out what was happening.”
Altman said the two exchanged waves before continuing on their way.
“We waved and went on, but it was really weird. I mean, it’s like a strange thing to see someone that has nailed your kind of quirky mannerisms or whatever…I waved at him that one time and that was it,” he added.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Artificial is scheduled to arrive in theaters on Christmas Day through Neon.
The film is set during the turbulent events of 2023, when Altman was dismissed from OpenAI before returning to the company. Its cast also includes Ike Barinholtz as co-founder Elon Musk, Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, “Anora” breakout Yura Borisov as former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and Mark Rylance as Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton.
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