Neon Closes Deal for Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman Open AI Movie ‘Artificial’ After Amazon Drops Controversial Film
“Artificial,” Luca Guadagnino‘s movie about Sam Altman and OpenAI, has found a new home.
Neon has closed a deal to acquire the nearly-completed $40 million film — set during the tumultuous time when Altman (played by Andrew Garfield) was fired and then rehired by the AI giant — after Amazon MGM Studios announced that it believed it would “be better served if it were released by a different studio.”
Variety reported that, of those who had seen the movie in screenings put on by CAA Media Finance — which is handling sales — Netflix, A24 and Focus chose not to pursue it. Mubi was also in the mix for the distribution rights.
Amazon’s decision came just months after the company signed a major partnership with OpenAI, including a $50 billion investment, and less than a year after Altman’s relationship with Jeff Bezos was underlined by his appearance at the Amazon boss’s wedding. Variety heard that test screenings had been positive, but the studio still chose to exit, raising eyebrows about its motivations.
According to various people who have seen the film and read the script, “Artificial” portrays Altman as deeply untrustworthy and Elon Musk (played by Ike Barinholtz) as highly dislikable. Per its official synopsis, “Artificial” chronicles the incredibly consequential days leading up to the sudden firing and reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, as the fate of who gets to control the technology at the center of an AI arms race hangs in the balance.”
Alongside Garfield and Barinholtz, “Artificial” has a starry cast including Oscar nominees Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and Yura Borisov as former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. Oscar winner Mark Rylance portrays Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton. Jason Schwartzman, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Hoffman, Chris O’Dowd, Cooper Koch and Billie Lourd round out the cast for the film, written by “SNL” alum Simon Rich.
Currently in the final stages of post-production, “Artificial” had been eyeing a festival launch at SXSW before Amazon’s departure. Given the latest acquisition, the movie could now potentially be in play for a slot at the Venice Film Festival, where many of Guadagnino’s previous films — including “After the Hunt,” “A Bigger Splash,” “Queer,” “Suspiria” and “Bones and All” — debuted. Neon has committed to launching an awards campaign for “Artificial” 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,” Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Cannes prize winner, “All of a Sudden,” Hirokazu Koreeda’s “Sheep in the Box”, Director Na’s “Hope,” Arie and Chuko’s “Clarissa” and William and David Greaves’s “Once Upon a Time in Harlem.”
The deal was negotiated by Alison Cohen for Neon, with CAA Media Finance and Amazon MGM Studios.
Puck first reported Neon’s pole position in the dealmaking.
Angelique Jackson contributed to this report.