Amazon has changed its mind on distributing Luca Guadagnino’s movie about OpenAI. Per Matt Belloni of Puck News, the film is now being shopped to other distributors.
“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 representative 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.”
Artificial reportedly chronicles the tumultuous five-day period in 2023 when Sam Altman was fired, then rehired as the CEO of OpenAI. Andrew Garfield plays Altman and Ilya Sutskever stars as OpenAI co-founder Yura Borisov. The cast also includes Ike Barinholtz (as Elon Musk), Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Mark Rylance, and Jason Schwartzman, among others. Simon Rich penned the film’s script, while Damon Albarn is composing the music.
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A source familiar with Amazon’s thinking told Belloni that the film’s tone was “darker” than originally pitched. “Obviously, many may wonder how much Amazon, a tech power and major player in the current A.I. arms race, was interested in poking a bear like Altman, who wields enormous power and has developed a close relationship with Trump and the White House,” Belloni added.
Instead, Amazon seems content on playing it safe with White House-approved vanity projects such as the Melania Trump documentary.
