Amazon MGM Studios has cut ties with director Luca Guadagnino’s nearly completed film “Artificial,” a dramatization of the brief 2023 leadership crisis at OpenAI, just months after the tech giant committed up to $50 billion to a sweeping partnership with the artificial intelligence company, Variety reported Friday.
The film, which stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman and is currently in post-production after wrapping filming in October 2025, will now be shopped to other studios. Amazon’s withdrawal comes after the company announced on Feb. 27 a major cloud and investment partnership with OpenAI that includes an initial $15 billion investment in the AI startup, with up to $35 billion more to follow subject to unspecified conditions, alongside an expansion of OpenAI’s use of Amazon Web Services.
“We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker — not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “We believe that ’Artificial’ will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home.”
The Hollywood Reporter, citing a report first published by Puck, said the decision came from Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios chief Mike Hopkins. The trade publication described the film as a “Social Network”-esque feature shot in San Francisco and Italy, centering on the chaotic few days in November 2023 when Mr. Altman was abruptly fired by OpenAI’s board and then reinstated within days.
Beyond Mr. Garfield, “Artificial” boasts an all-star ensemble: Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, Yura Borisov as former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Angus Imrie, Chris O’Dowd and Mark Rylance also appear. The screenplay was written by Simon Rich, a former writer for “Saturday Night Live.”
The film had already undergone several test screenings before Amazon made its decision. Trade reports described the L.A. screenings as drawing a warm reception, while an insider told Variety that the portrayals of Mr. Altman and Mr. Musk are among the least flattering in the picture — the characters audiences would “like the least.” The film was also being screened for competing studios Thursday as the search for a new distributor got underway, according to Puck.
Variety also reported that Mr. Altman and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos are personally acquainted, and that Mr. Altman attended Mr. Bezos’ wedding in Italy last year.
“Artificial” marked the third collaboration between Mr. Guadagnino and Amazon MGM, following “Challengers” (2024) and “After the Hunt,” which starred Mr. Garfield alongside Julia Roberts and Ayo Edebiri.
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