Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman Drama ARTIFICIAL Dropped by Amazon After OpenAI Partnership

Hollywood and Silicon Valley have been colliding more than ever lately, and now one of the most talked-about movies inspired by the AI world has found itself caught in the middle of that collision.

Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming film Artificial, which centers on the dramatic leadership shakeup at OpenAI in 2023, has reportedly been dropped by Amazon MGM Studios despite being nearly finished. The project will now be shopped around to other studios in search of a new distributor.

The development is especially interesting given Amazon’s growing business relationship with OpenAI. According to reports, Amazon entered into a major partnership with the company earlier this year, expanding OpenAI’s use of Amazon Web Services while committing a massive $50 billion investment toward the development of custom AI models.

Even with the split, Amazon made it clear that the decision wasn’t a reflection of the filmmaker. “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,” a spokesperson for Amazon said.

“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 film boasts an impressive ensemble led by Andrew Garfield, who plays OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Joining him are Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, Yura Borisov as former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk.

The supporting cast includes Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Angus Imrie, Chris O’Dowd, and Mark Rylance.

Written by former Saturday Night Live writer Simon Rich, Artificial focuses on one of the wildest chapters in modern tech history. The story follows the brief but chaotic period in late 2023 when Altman was unexpectedly fired from OpenAI, only to be reinstated days later after intense backlash from employees, investors, and industry figures.

What makes this situation even more surprising is that the movie was reportedly already deep into the process. Artificial had undergone multiple test screenings before Amazon stepped away, and audience reactions were said to be very positive. The film also screened for other studios on Thursday as producers began exploring potential new distribution partners.

One particularly interesting detail emerged from an insider who has seen the movie. According to that source, the portrayals of Altman and Musk are the least sympathetic characters in the story and are the figures audiences would “like the least.”

Reports also indicate that Amazon had reviewed earlier versions of the screenplay long before Guadagnino signed on to direct, suggesting the studio was familiar with the project's direction from the start.

Then there’s the real-world connection between OpenAI and Amazon leadership. Altman and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are known to have a relationship, and Altman attended Bezos’ wedding in Italy last year.

Whether Amazon’s partnership with OpenAI played a role in the studio’s decision remains open to interpretation, but the timing is certainly raising eyebrows.

For now, Artificial remains very much alive. With positive test screenings, a high-profile cast, and one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed directors at the helm, it seems likely that another studio will step in.

The question now is who will take the opportunity to release what could become one of the most fascinating tech dramas of the decade.

Via: Variety