Amazon dropped Luca Guadagnino's nearly finished Sam Altman biopic "Artificial" on Thursday, days after the company committed $50 billion to Altman's OpenAI in a deal that makes the conflict of interest impossible to ignore. The film, starring Andrew Garfield as the OpenAI CEO and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, was set for an awards-qualifying release this Christmas followed by a wide rollout in early 2027 through Amazon MGM Studios. Instead, it is being shopped to other buyers.
"We believe that 'Artificial' will be better served if it were released by a different studio," an Amazon spokesperson told Variety, adding that the company is "working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home." The timing is everything. In February, Amazon signed a $50 billion "strategic partnership" with OpenAI that includes an immediate $15 billion investment and another $35 billion once conditions are met, according to OpenAI's website.
That deal came on top of a $38 billion cloud computing agreement between the two companies last year. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who remains executive chair, counts Altman as a personal friend, Altman attended Bezos' wedding in Italy last year.
The movie, written by former "SNL" writer Simon Rich, centers on the chaotic week in 2023 when OpenAI's board fired Altman and then reinstated him days later. According to an insider who has seen the film, Altman and Musk come across as the least sympathetic characters, the ones audiences would "like the least."
Puck was first to report Amazon's exit. The outlet also reported last year that Warner Bros. and Paramount had passed on Rich's script over concerns it was "dull," though sources familiar with the project say that characterization was a planted story meant to throw off the billionaires depicted in the film.
"Artificial" already has a starry ensemble: Monica Barbaro plays former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, Yura Borisov plays former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and the cast includes Mark Rylance, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Billie Lourd, and Chris O'Dowd. Guadagnino wrapped shooting last fall and the film has completed several test screenings that went "very positively," according to Variety.
It screened for other studios on Thursday.
CAA, which represents several cast members including Billie Lourd (daughter of CAA chief Bryan Lourd), is handling the search for a new distributor. The price tag is reportedly $50 million, the same figure Amazon just invested in Altman's company.
