Neon acquires Luca Guadagnino's OpenAI movie 'Artificial' after Amazon MGM exit

Los Angeles, Independent distributor Neon has acquired the global rights to filmmaker Luca Guadagnino's upcoming feature "Artificial", weeks after the movie was dropped by Amazon MGM Studios.

Written by former "Saturday Night Live" writer Simon Rich, "Artificial" chronicles the dramatic events surrounding the brief ouster and reinstatement of Sam Altman as chief executive of OpenAI in 2023, as the battle over the future of artificial intelligence unfolds. "The Social Network" star Andrew Garfield essays the role of Altman in the film.

According to Deadline, Neon intends to mount an awards campaign for the film in the coming award season.


The film's cast is led by Garfield as Altman, with Monica Barbaro portraying former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, Yura Borisov playing former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Ike Barinholtz essaying billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Actors Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Angus Imrie, Chris O'Dowd and Mark Rylance round out the cast.

"Artificial" is produced by Rich, Guadagnino, David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford and Jennifer Fox. The film was shot in San Francisco and Italy.

Last month, there were reports stating that Amazon MGM decided not to release the film despite it being in the final stages of completion. At the time, the studio said it believed the project would be "better served" by a different distributor.

The development came months after Amazon and OpenAI announced a major partnership aimed at expanding the artificial intelligence company's use of Amazon Web Services and developing customised AI models.

The film had been screened for prospective distributors, including Netflix and A24, after Amazon MGM exited the project.

Neon has emerged as one of Hollywood's leading independent distributors, with a track record of backing critically acclaimed and award-winning films. Its slate includes Academy Award best picture winners "Parasite" and "Anora", as well as Palme d'Or winners "Triangle of Sadness", "Anatomy of a Fall" and "Titane".