“Artificial,” director Luca Guadagnino’s film about Sam Altman and OpenAI, has found a new home.
Neon has signed a deal to acquire the nearly completed $40 million film, set during the turbulent era in which Altman, played by Andrew Garfield, is fired and rehired by the AI giant, after Amazon-MGM Studios announced it believed it would be “better served if released by another studio.”
Variety reported that Netflix, A24 and Focus refused to show the film among those who saw the film at a screening held by CAA Media Finance, which handles sales. Mubi was also in the running for distribution rights.
Amazon’s decision comes just months after the company signed a major partnership with OpenAI that included a $50 billion investment, and less than a year after Altman’s relationship with Jeff Bezos was highlighted by his attendance at the Amazon president’s wedding. Variety heard that the test results were positive, but the studio still chose to withdraw, raising eyebrows as to the motive behind it.
According to various people who have seen the film and read the script, “Artificial” portrays Altman as a very untrustworthy character and portrays Ike Barinholtz’s Elon Musk as a very disliked character. According to the official synopsis, “Artificial” chronicles the incredibly momentous days between Sam Altman’s sudden ouster and return as CEO of OpenAI, with the fate of who will control the technology at the center of the AI arms race hanging in the balance. ”
In addition to Garfield and Barinholtz, “Artificial” also stars an all-star cast, including Oscar nominee Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and Yula Borisov as former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Satskeva. Oscar winner Mark Rylance plays Nobel Prize winner Jeffrey Hinton. Jason Schwartzman, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Hoffman, Chris O’Dowd, Cooper Koch and Billie Lourd round out the film’s cast, and “SNL” alum Simon Rich wrote the script.
“Artificial,” currently in the final stages of post-production, had been aiming for a festival launch at SXSW before Amazon pulled out. Given this acquisition, the film may be screened at the Venice Film Festival. Many of Guadagnino’s previous films premiered at the Venice Film Festival, including After the Hunt, A Bigger Splash, Queer, Suspiria, and Bones and All. Neon has promised to launch an “Artificial” awards campaign to enter this year’s Oscar race.
Neon’s 2026 film slate also includes Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner Fjord, James Gray’s Paper Tiger, Cannes Film Festival winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Sheep in the Box, Na’s Hope, Ally and Chuko’s Clarissa, and William and David Greaves’ Once. Upon a Time in Harlem. ”
The deal was negotiated by Neon’s Alison Cohen with CAA Media Finance and Amazon MGM Studios.
Pac was first to report Neon’s pole position in the deal.
Angelique Jackson contributed to this report.
