There’s method acting, and then there’s what Ike Barinholtz is doing to prepare himself for his upcoming portrayal of Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial.
He may have just been kidding, but Barinholtz shared with Variety on Sunday at the Primetime Emmys how he began preparing to play the Tesla and SpaceX boss.
“I start poisoning my brain by watching lots of interviews with him,” the actor said. “Luca is a real genius and brings stuff out of people, so any trepidation I had going into it was instantly swaged by that genius.”
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The film’s plot has been kept under wraps. So far, all that’s publicly known about Artificial is that it’s a comedic drama set in the world of artificial intelligence. Deadline previously reported that the film is based on the events of 2023, when OpenAI fired CEO Sam Altman and rehired him within days.
Barinholtz joins Andrew Garfield, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Hoffman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, and Chris O’Dowd as cast members.
Ike Barinholtz is playing Elon Musk in Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial.” He has not reached out to Musk and says of the prep process:
“I started poising my brain by watching lot of interviews with him.” #Emmys pic.twitter.com/VUbuofPwnd
— Variety (@Variety) September 14, 2025
When asked if he reached out to Musk to prepare for the role, Barinholtz winced and shook his head.
“I’m okay,” he said. “He’s famous enough where you get it.”
Barinholtz also hilariously scoffed when asked if he’s nervous about portraying a controversial figure who also enjoys a loyal following.
“All I hope is that if he puts me into a gulag, it’s one with all of my friends,” he quipped. “That way we can have a party.”
