EXCLUSIVE: Cooper Hoffman (Licorice Pizza) is locked in for a role in Artificial, Luca Guadagnino’s AI movie for Amazon MGM Studios, Deadline has learned.
Character details are under wraps. Word of his involvement comes following the revelation this morning that The Studio‘s Ike Barinholtz is negotiating to join in the role of Elon Musk. Other cast members who have completed their deals so far include Anora breakout Yura Borisov, Andrew Garfield and Cooper Koch.
Official plot details for Artificial are being kept under wraps, although the film is being described as a comedic drama set in the world of artificial intelligence. While unconfirmed, sources say the film revolves around the period at the artificial intelligence company OpenAI in 2023 that saw CEO Sam Altman fired and rehired in a matter of days.
Simon Rich wrote the script and will produce alongside Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford, as well as Jennifer Fox. The project was first announced in early June. Like Barinholtz, Monica Barbaro remains in talks for a role.
Hoffman will next be seen headlining Francis Lawrence’s The Long Walk, an adaptation of the Stephen King novel, which opens in theaters September 12. Additionally, he stars in Maude Apatow’s directorial debut Poetic License, a project we first reported on that will premiere at the 2025 Toronto Film Festival, as well as Gregg Araki’s psychosexual thriller I Want Your Sex opposite Olivia Wilde.
Breaking out with his Golden Globe- and Critics Choice-nominated starring turn in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, the actor recently starred in Sam Shepard’s Off Broadway play Curse of the Starving Class, and is represented by CAA.