‘Artificial’s Ike Barinholtz Teases What Makes His “Menacing” Elon Musk Performance “A Little Ridiculous”

As Luca Guadagnino explored the rise of AI in Artificial, Ike Barinholtz explored the psyche of Elon Musk with his portrayal of the OpenAI co-founder.

While discussing how he got into character as Musk, the actor explained what made his performance “menacing” but also “a little ridiculous” in the Neon film, which premieres Christmas Day in US theaters, starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

“Well, the good news is, I got to play him in an era where he was really kind of looked at as the next Tony Stark,” he told Discussing Film. “But I had to do these scenes that are him kind of behind the curtain a little bit, so there’s not like tape on it and stuff.”

Barinholtz added, “So, we tried to make something that felt menacing to the people in the room, but as you pull out 37,000 feet down, looking down, it does seem a little ridiculous.”

Penned by Simon Rich, Artificial centers around the controversial firing and subsequent rehiring of Altman by OpenAI’s board of directors within a span of five days in November 2023.

Ike Barinholtz says his portrayal of Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino's ‘ARTIFICIAL’ is just before he became “menacing” publicly.

“I got to play him in an era where he was looked at as the next Tony Stark but I also did these scenes that are him [menacing] behind the curtain.” pic.twitter.com/DkvlTZjyeU

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 11, 2026

The cast also includes Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Chris O’Dowd, Mark Rylance, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Koch and Billie Lourd.