Ike Barinholtz says his Elon Musk in Artificial comes from the years when the world treated the billionaire as the next Tony Stark. Luca Guadagnino directs the satirical film, which traces the founding of OpenAI and the boardroom chaos that followed. Simon Rich wrote the script, and Neon plans a Christmas Day release in the United States. Casting a comedian as a tech titan was always bound to raise questions.

While boardroom drama looms, Barinholtz points to a much earlier timeline, back when Musk still wore the Tony Stark glow.

Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk in Artificial as the adored tech visionary of the mid-2010s, long before the public mood shifted. The film places Musk around the founding of OpenAI, when admirers hoped he would rescue the future. Rooms of engineers treated him like a rock star who happened to own rockets. Barinholtz built his version on that worship rather than on later headlines.

“I got to play him in an era where he was really kind of looked at as you know the next Tony Stark,” Barinholtz told Discussing Film.   

He then added, “We tried to make something that felt menacing to the people in the room,” which shows how the character lands on others.

The interview with Discussing Film also explains where the menace lives. Barinholtz described the scenes as private moments behind the curtain, which means no recordings exist. The filmmakers therefore had plenty of room to imagine the tension. Zoom out far enough, he said, and the same moments start to look a little ridiculous. Musk appears only briefly in the film, as an early OpenAI backer who later becomes a rival.

“I’m an Old-Fashioned Guy” — Luca Guadagnino Reveals That No AI Was Used in ‘Artificial'

While Barinholtz finds the ridiculous side of power, co-star Andrew Garfield says artists deserve a seat in the royal court.

Andrew Garfield, who plays Sam Altman in Artificial, told Variety that artists serve as the court jesters of modern society. Jesters, as he sees it, are the people allowed to ask the king or queen whether a plan has been thought through. He then named the comedian beside him, placing Ike Barinholtz firmly in that group. The remark came as the film premiered at the New York Film Festival in early October.

Garfield also practices the message, having dropped ChatGPT after working on the film. He had used the chatbot for research, yet the experience left him scared and mistrustful. The people pushing these tools do not seem to grasp their full capacities, which he finds irresponsible. He feels a duty to shine a light, though he does not expect actors to become useless. Artists should keep questioning big tech, Garfield says.

“Was Very Strange” — Sam Altman on Andrew Garfield’s Creepily Perfect Portrayal of Him in ‘Artificial’

What are your thoughts on Ike Barinholtz’s Musk and Andrew Garfield’s jester theory? Let us know in the comments.