Amazon has dropped Artificial, filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s biopic on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and is helping the project find a new distributor, according to media reports.
In a statement reported by US entertainment news outlet Variety, Amazon said it believes that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the film-making team to find the film a new home.
The move comes amid Amazon’s business ties with OpenAI. The company recently announced a major investment in the artificial intelligence firm, committing USD 15 billion immediately and a further USD 35 billion in the coming months subject to certain conditions.
The two companies had also signed a USD 38 billion cloud computing agreement last year.
Artificial stars Andrew Garfield as Altman and Ike Barinholtz as Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk.
“We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning film-maker – not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue,” Amazon said.
Penned by award-winning comedy writer Simon Rich, Artificial wrapped production last autumn and reportedly chronicles the dramatic firing and subsequent reinstatement of Altman as OpenAI chief executive in 2023.
According to Page Six, one of the film’s central characters is OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, portrayed by Anora star Yura Borisov. Sutskever was among the board members who voted to remove Altman before stepping down after Altman’s return to the company a week later.
The film had reportedly been eyeing an awards-qualifying release in the US during the Christmas season, followed by a wider theatrical rollout in early 2027.
The release strategy was said to be aimed at avoiding competition with Aaron Sorkin's The Social Reckoning, a follow-up to David Fincher's 2010 hit The Social Network.
The Social Reckoning stars Jeremy Strong as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Mikey Madison as whistleblower Frances Haugen, who was involved in the 2021 Facebook leak.
The ensemble cast of Artificial also includes Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Angus Imrie, Chris O'Dowd and Mark Rylance.
Puck had reported last year that Warner Bros and Paramount passed on Rich's script, citing concerns that it was dull, although sources later disputed claims that the screenplay had been widely circulated and maintained that Amazon acquired the project at the script stage.
Guadagnino’s most recent release was After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri.