Hollywood A-listers in offbeat roles: Luca Guadagnino says, “I’ve worked with some of the finest”
Luca Guadagnino spells out what keeps Hollywood stars in his corner — as Andrew Garfield leads Guadagnino’s highly anticipated AI drama, Artificial.
At the Venice Film Festival, Luca Guadagnino dug into how he works with actors, likening the vibe on his sets to kids building a sandcastle together — tender, playful, and always chasing something true without tipping into cliché. Then he made it even simpler: he just loves the people he hires.
“I’ve been lucky because, honestly, I have worked with some of the finest, most committed, bold performers I could have worked with. But I think they know that I love them.”
It’s a through line that runs across his filmography, where he regularly puts big-name performers in riskier, rawer spaces than audiences expect.
- Julia Roberts — After the Hunt
- Daniel Craig — Queer
- Tilda Swinton — I Am Love
- Ralph Fiennes — A Bigger Splash
Guadagnino shared a small, telling moment from After the Hunt: between takes, Julia Roberts would knit. She eventually handed him the finished scarf for his birthday — a gesture he remembered warmly as he called her fantastic and the shoot “inspiring” from start to finish.
His bond with Tilda Swinton goes back to seeing her in Derek Jarman’s Caravaggio, which sparked a friendship that turned into a career-long collaboration. That partnership crystalized with I Am Love and has kept resurfacing, film after film.
Artificial heads to NYFF
Next up is Artificial, Guadagnino’s Silicon Valley drama that reunites him with Andrew Garfield after After the Hunt. Garfield plays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during the whiplash 2023 episode when Altman was fired and then brought back within days.
- Monica Barbaro
- Yura Borisov
- Ike Barinholtz
- Jason Schwartzman
- Cooper Hoffman
- Mark Rylance
The film’s release plan hit turbulence when Amazon MGM dropped its planned rollout of the nearly finished movie. Neon has stepped in and acquired worldwide distribution rights, giving the project a clear path to theaters.
October 5 is now circled: Artificial will have its world premiere at the 2026 New York Film Festival, with Guadagnino and members of the cast expected to attend.