August 1 may be Spider-Man day but Andrew Garfield is long past his web-slinging days. Putting on his tech-stained glass, the beloved Hollywood actor has once again fully channelled a billionaire entrepreneur for his next big-screen moment. Social media is already brimming with buzz surrounding Call Me By Your Name and Challengers director Luca Guadagnino’s latest outing behind the camera lens: Artificial.

What particularly took the Internet by storm were real-time visuals coming in from the movie set in San Francisco that caught Garfield, his co-star and real-life girlfriend Monica Barbaro on set. In addition to fans posting the wondrous moment on X, TMZ also pushed exclusive clips of the behind-the-scenes action underway on Wednesday (US time).

Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman in Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Artificial’: Movie set video leaked

A Redditor took to the online platform to share a clip of the movie set. Shot from the back, the video captures Andrew rocking a gray outfit while he runs in the other direction while maintaining an awkward gait. Multiple others are seen racing ahead of him while he takes his time to cover the same distance, keeping his hands tucked inside his pockets.

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“Got some shots of the OpenAI movie on Lombard,” the user headlined the post. “Andrew Garfield nailed the Sam Altman walk!” More people joined in on the conversation, with some being more excited than ever after realising that the Hollywood crew was filming in the neighbourhood where the real-life tech entrepreneur lives. “Whats more interesting is theyre filming in front of his house… lol,” commented a user.

Another chimed in, “Yeah that’s wild. I don’t know of any movies that shot outside the real subject’s house, but this happens to be one of the most famous public streets in the world. I asked some crew if he knew about it and they basically said “he does now” lol.”

Some even went on to call it “another ‘Social Network.” Alluding to the hit 2010 film and the Spider-Man star’s full-circle moment, a netizen tweeted, “the concept of andrew garfield playing you in a movie about your life so you know you and your company are about to be disgustingly successful social network pipeline studied in film classes.”

Andrew Garfield’s OpenAI CEO role in focus amid ‘The Social Network’ buzz

The 41-year-old’s brand-new on-set transformation seemingly comes full circle at a time when social media is up in arms about the highly anticipated sequel of 2010’s The Social Network going into production without the David Fincher classic’s previous dream-team of Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield. Sadly, even the American director isn’t returning for the big comeback as Aaron Sorkin is set to helm the second outing.

Eisenberg played Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 Oscar-winning biopic, but now that he is out of the picture, Jeremy Strong has emerged as an undisputed contender to take on the role next. Academy Award winner Mikey Madison of Anora fame and The Bear star Jeremy Allen White are reportedly also on path to landing the lead roles in the film.

Garfield, an evergreen and versatile star, may have gained cult recognition for his portrayal of Spider-Man in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. However, it was by fitting into the shoes of Eduardo Saverin, the co-founder of Facebook, that boosted him to critically acclaimed international fame. His performance in The Social Network remains yet another cult hit, with his big “I’m Coming Back for Everything” confrontation scene circling back to social media virality every now and then.

Fans obviously had a lot to say about his absence in the upcoming The Social Network 2 as well.

The Social Network 2 without the OG team? Internet blows up

“If there’s no David Fincher, no Jesse Eisenberg, no Andrew Garfield… Why this movie called THE SOCIAL NETWORK 2???” wrote a furious fan of the OG movie after catching the news of Strong as the top choice to take Zuckerberg’s part.

Another user completely strayed away from the film’s discussion, saying, “enough with the social network 2 or whatever the hell that thing is, i want to know if we will have andrew garfield and jesse eisenberg 30 minutes interview for the social network 15th anniversary on october.”

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Yet another bemoaned, “Seriously though you cannot do a The Social Network sequel without Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield.”

A fourth person noted how the upcoming movie was possibly called The Social Network 2 strictly for “marketing reasons,” while also decoding how it all could backfire on the makers. “…is a risky tactic because people will be expecting to see Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield again. They can still market the film with ‘from the man who brought you The Social Network’ without actually calling it that,” someone commented on X.

As for Garfield’s next flick on the horizon, he is obviously shooting the Artificial in San Francisco. While he comes in as Sam Altman, Monica Barbaro is playing Mira Murati, the former OpenAI CTO. Billed as a comedic drama, the Luca Guadagnino directorial was in talks to be boarded by Amazon MGM Studios, with Anora breakout Yura Borisov joining Andrew and Monica as a co-star, according to Deadline‘s June report. Recent reports even insisted that Ike Barinholtz, last seen in Apple TV’s The Studio, had been cast as Elon Musk.

Much of the plot and film details are under wraps. However, sources told the outlet at the time that Artificial may explore the time period wherein OpenAI’s Sam Altman was fired and rehired in a matter of days in 2023.