Sources tell Variety that several buyers who screened Luca Guadagnino’s long-awaited “Artificial” have given up on buying the film in the days after Amazon-MGM Studios abruptly canceled showings of the film.
Featured Features, Warner Bros. According to these sources, Clockwork, A24 and Netflix have all pulled out. But the nearly completed Sam Altman drama isn’t without suitors. Variety has learned that Mubi is pursuing the film and Neon may also be involved.
CAA Media Finance, which represents Guadagnino, has been organizing screenings for the film since Amazon’s withdrawal in an effort to find a new home. The picture, reportedly a $40 million production starring Andrew Garfield as OpenAI’s chief executive, has been shown to a group of potential distributors in recent days. It is rumored that the picture depicts Altman as a pathological liar and Musk (Ike Barinholtz) as a highly antipathetic person.
Amazon MGM, which developed “Artificial” and was scheduled for release in early 2027, has pulled out of the project entirely. The decision comes just months after the company announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI as part of a multi-year cloud partnership. Amazon said it believes the film would be “better served” by another studio and is working with the filmmakers to find a new home, but denied that the subject matter was a factor in the decision.
Even independent companies with AI ambitions and ties to big tech may have reason to be cautious about this film. For example, A24 is backed by Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, which sits on its board of directors and ranks as one of OpenAI’s largest and most high-profile backers.
Mubi seems like a natural fit for the film, considering the indie distributor already has a relationship with Guadagnino. The company released his Burroughs adaptation “Queer” in multiple international territories, was responsible for the UK theatrical release of “Suspiria” and acquired world rights to his short film “The Staggering Girl.” Mubi has played the role of a white knight before. Banners infamously saved Coralie Fargett’s “Substance” from being dropped by Universal in the run-up to the Cannes Film Festival. The film ultimately won an award at the Cannes Film Festival and received five Oscar nominations. That said, “The Substance” wasn’t much of a gamble, since it cost less than half as much and didn’t depict real-life powerful people. But like “The Apprentice,” another controversial film that starred Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump and scared away distributors before being acquired by Briarcliff, “Artificial” could also be an Oscar contender.
Written by “SNL” alum Simon Rich and described as a “social network” for the age of AI, “Artificial” details the chaotic weekend in 2023 when Altman was fired and rehired to OpenAI’s board within days. The first part of the film focuses on co-founder Ilya Satskeva (Yula Borisov), the idealistic scientific brain behind the company, before a power struggle on the board takes over. The ensemble stars Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Chris O’Dowd and Mark Rylance, along with Monica Barbaro as former CTO Mila Murati.
Currently in the final stages of post-production, “Artificial” was aiming for a festival launch at SXSW before Amazon pulled out. Depending on who buys it, the film could be shown at the Venice Film Festival. If the movie is successful, we can expect a world premiere on Lido, where Guadagnino has shown many of his films (including his latest, After the Hunt).
Representatives for Mubi and Neon did not respond to requests for comment.
Alex Ritman contributed to this report.
