Artificial (2001) News: Spielberg's Futuristic AI Film

Monica Barbaro has offered a few new details about Artificial, the upcoming sci-fi drama she’s shooting with director Luca Guadagnino, while also pushing back on Timothée Chalamet’s recent comments about ballet training for a separate project. The actress, who has kept most of her involvement under wraps, describes the film as a deeply emotional exploration of what it means to be human - one that leans heavily on the relationship between her character and the story’s central artificial being.

Barbaro confirmed that Guadagnino is approaching the material with his signature visual elegance, but she emphasized that the real weight of the production comes from its quieter moments. She noted that the director has been encouraging the cast to find a naturalistic rhythm, even when dealing with highly stylized futuristic elements. “It’s not a spectacle in the traditional sense,” she said. “Luca wants you to feel every pause, every glance, as if it’s the most important thing in the world.”

The film, which shares its title with a 2001 Steven Spielberg feature about a robotic boy named David, is not a remake of that earlier picture, according to Barbaro. Instead, she described Artificial as an original story that reimagines similar themes through a contemporary lens. In the Spielberg version, David is adopted by a grieving couple and struggles to earn the love he was programmed to give; Barbaro said her project touches on comparable questions but sets them in a wholly new narrative environment. She declined to reveal whether her role mirrors Frances O’Connor’s Monica Swinton from the 2001 film, but she acknowledged the connection is likely to invite speculation.

“People will draw parallels, and that’s fine,” she said. “But this is its own thing. We’re not trying to step on anyone’s toes. The core idea - what happens when something designed to love you starts to feel like a person - is timeless, and Luca has a very different way of getting at it than Spielberg did.”

Barbaro also fielded questions about Chalamet, who recently joked in an interview that his extensive ballet preparation for an upcoming role had left him with a newfound respect for dancers but also a deep resentment toward the discipline. Chalamet’s offhand remarks about “never wanting to see another pair of tights” spread quickly online, and Barbaro - who trained in dance herself before pivoting to acting - offered a lighthearted but firm rebuttal.

“I love Timothée, but he’s wrong about ballet,” she said with a laugh. “It’s brutal, sure, but it’s also the most honest physical art form there is. If he’s complaining, that means it’s working. I’d tell him to lean into the pain and stop bad-mouthing the tights.”

She added that she hadn’t spoken to Chalamet directly about the comments, but she appreciated that he was taking the training seriously enough to talk about it publicly. “Any actor who complains about prep is at least doing the prep,” she said. “That’s more than a lot of people can say.”

The conversation inevitably turned back to Guadagnino’s working style, which Barbaro described as intense but rewarding. She noted that the director often shoots long, unbroken takes and prefers to let scenes breathe rather than cut quickly. That approach, she said, requires a level of trust between actor and director that she hasn’t always experienced on other sets. “He’s not interested in coverage you can hide behind,” she explained. “He wants you to commit fully to the moment, and if you mess up, you mess up in real time. It’s terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.”

Barbaro also hinted that Artificial will feature practical effects and animatronics alongside digital work, a decision she said was driven by Guadagnino’s desire for physical immediacy. “There’s something about touching a real object or interacting with a real presence that changes your performance as an actor,” she said. “He doesn’t want us acting to empty space. He wants the environment to be almost another character.”

No official release date has been announced for the film, which remains in production. Barbaro confirmed that principal photography is ongoing, with a few major set pieces still to be filmed. She said the schedule has been demanding but that Guadagnino’s energy keeps the cast motivated, even when long nights stretch into early mornings.

As for the inevitable comparisons to the Spielberg classic, Barbaro said she welcomes the discussion, adding that she grew up watching the 2001 film and remembers being moved by Haley Joel Osment’s performance as David. “That movie broke my heart as a kid,” she said. “If we can make people feel even a fraction of that, I’ll consider this a win.”

She also clarified that the title Artificial is not a direct reference to the older picture’s subtitle, A.I., despite the thematic overlap. “It’s just a word that sums up the central tension,” she said. “What’s real, what’s manufactured, and whether that line even matters when it comes to love.”

Barbaro ended the conversation on a note of cautious optimism, acknowledging that the film is still very much a work in progress. “We’re making something weird and tender and uncomfortable,” she said. “I hope audiences are ready for it, because I don’t think it’s going to be an easy watch. But I don’t think it’s supposed to be.”

Source: Hollywood Reporter