Overview
- Amazon MGM Studios announced Friday that it will not release Luca Guadagnino’s film Artificial and that it is working with the filmmakers to find a new distributor.
- The film is nearly finished, completed principal photography last year, has received positive test screenings and has already been shown to potential buyers, according to multiple reports.
- Artificial dramatizes OpenAI’s 2023 board crisis that briefly ousted and then reinstated Sam Altman and stars Andrew Garfield as Altman with a large ensemble cast that includes Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro and Mark Rylance.
- Reporters cite unnamed insiders who say the cut grew darker in editing and that portrayals of Altman and Elon Musk are unsympathetic, and Amazon’s statement framed the move as in the film’s interest rather than citing its business ties to OpenAI.
- The studio’s exit comes after Amazon announced a reported $50 billion strategic partnership with OpenAI in February, a timing that raises conflict-of-interest questions and could affect festival placement, release timing and awards planning as the film is shopped to other outlets.