Neon has set its Artificial Oscar campaign strategy: Andrew Garfield will campaign in supporting actor, while Yura Borisov runs in lead actor, according to Variety.
Mark Rylance joins Garfield in supporting actor, and Monica Barbaro campaigns in supporting actress, according to Variety. The category placements are a campaign decision by Neon, not an Academy determination, and the film’s eventual nominations rest with Oscar voters, not with how a distributor positions its stars.
How Neon Set The Artificial Oscar Campaign Acting Categories
Garfield plays Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO who was ousted by his board and reinstated five days later, according to Variety. Despite being the face of the film’s marketing, Garfield is running in supporting actor rather than lead.
Borisov plays Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder and former chief scientist whose falling-out with Altman anchors much of the story, and he’s the one Neon is pushing for lead actor, Variety reported.
Rylance plays Geoffrey Hinton, the AI pioneer, and joins Garfield in the supporting actor race. Barbaro plays Mira Murati, OpenAI’s former chief technology officer, and will campaign in supporting actress, according to Variety.
Lead Versus Supporting: A Familiar Oscar Maneuver
Placing a film’s top-billed star in supporting actor isn’t new in awards season. Meryl Streep campaigned in supporting for Into the Woods and Catherine Zeta-Jones did the same for Chicago, both despite prominent billing.
The film’s narrative perspective also helps explain Neon’s thinking. Artificial follows Sam Altman, the man who set the story’s events in motion, rather than Sutskever, who deals with the consequences. That structural choice doesn’t dictate category placement, but it shows how a film’s point-of-view character isn’t automatically the one a studio pushes for lead actor.
The Film And Its Awards Pedigree
Artificial is directed by Luca Guadagnino and traces decades in the relationship between Sutskever and Altman, who bond over a shared ambition to change the world before splitting as the dangers of their technology become clear. The film world premiered at the New York Film Festival.
Guadagnino previously earned an Oscar nomination for directing Call Me by Your Name, which collected four nominations at the 90th Academy Awards and won adapted screenplay for James Ivory.
The cast brings its own Oscar history. Garfield is a two-time best actor nominee, for Hacksaw Ridge and Tick, Tick … Boom!, Borisov earned his first nomination two years ago for Sean Baker’s Anora. Rylance already has an Oscar, having won supporting actor for Bridge of Spies. Barbaro picked up her first nomination two years ago for playing Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown.
What’s Next
Neon’s category placements are now set for its campaign, but they remain the studio’s positioning rather than confirmed Oscar nominations. Academy voters will ultimately decide which races Garfield, Borisov, Rylance and Barbaro actually compete in when nominations are announced during the upcoming awards season.
Reporting from Variety contributed to this story.
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