Sam Altman Biopic ‘Artificial’ Loses Amazon Backing Before Release

Amazon MGM Studios has dropped Luca Guadagnino’s nearly completed film “Artificial,” a Sam Altman-centered project starring Andrew Garfield as the OpenAI CEO, and the movie will now be offered to other studios.

The decision comes after Amazon entered a major partnership with OpenAI in February focused on expanding the company’s use of Amazon Web Services and developing custom AI models. The arrangement included a $50 billion investment from Amazon, according to the original report.

“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 spokesperson said. “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.”

Guadagnino’s representative did not immediately respond to Variety’s request for comment.

“Artificial” follows the period in 2023 when Altman was removed from OpenAI and later brought back. Simon Rich, a former “SNL” writer, wrote the film. Alongside Garfield, the cast includes Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, Yura Borisov as former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Angus Imrie, Chris O’Dowd, and Mark Rylance also appear.

Before Amazon stepped away from the project, the film had already gone through several test screenings that were received positively, according to Variety. It also screened for other studios on Thursday. An insider who saw the film said the portrayals of Altman and Musk were among the least sympathetic and likely to be the characters audiences would “like the least.”

The report also notes that Amazon had reviewed earlier versions of the script before Guadagnino joined the project.

Altman and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are known to have a relationship, and Altman attended Bezos’ wedding in Italy last year. Puck first reported that Amazon had dropped the film.

This analysis is based on reporting from Variety.

Image courtesy of Amazon.

This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy and quality.