Amazon MGM drops Luca Guadagnino's Sam Altman film 'Artificial'

"Artificial", filmmaker Luca Guadagnino's upcoming movie about OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, is no longer being backed by Amazon MGM Studios and is being shopped to other studios for distribution.

The film, which features Andrew Garfield as Altman, has been dropped by Amazon MGM despite being in the final stages of completion, reported Variety.

The development comes 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.


In a statement to the outlet, a spokesperson for Amazon said the studio holds Guadagnino in high regard and remains interested in working with him in the future.

"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. 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 spokesperson said.

Written by former "Saturday Night Live" writer Simon Rich, "Artificial" chronicles the brief period in 2023 when Altman was fired from OpenAI before being reinstated as chief executive days later.

The film's cast also includes Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati, Yura Borisov as former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and Ike Barinholtz as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

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

According to Variety, the film had undergone multiple test screenings that received a positive response from audiences before Amazon's decision.

It also said the project was screened for other studios on Thursday as producers began exploring alternative distribution options.