Luca Guadagnino crashed by Amazon after finishing his new film on AI

The project, dedicated to OpenAI boss Sam Altman, a sensitive subject to say the least, finds itself today without a distributor.

A dramatic turn of events for Luca Guadagnino. While his new film, Artificialis almost finished, Amazon MGM Studios has decided to withdraw from the project and let the producers find a new distributor.

After After The Hunton Prime Video last year, the director of Call me by your Name And Challengers finds Andrew Garfield in the role of Sam Altman, the very controversial boss of OpenAI. Artificial looks back on the short period during which he was ousted from his post in 2023 before being reinstated a few days later.

The cast is particularly impressive, also featuring Monica Barbaro as former technical director Mira Murati, Yura Borisov as Ilya Sutskever and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Billie Lourd, Chris O’Dowd and Mark Rylance complete the cast.

In a statement, Amazon assured that its decision was not linked to the subject of the film:

“We have the greatest respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino, an award-winning filmmaker and long-time partner. We simply think that Artificial will be better served by another studio and we are working closely with the film team to find it a new home.”

An explanation which, however, leaves one skeptical. Because this decision comes just a few months after the announcement of a giant partnership between Amazon and OpenAI, including an investment of 50 billion dollars from the American giant.

According to several sources cited by Variety and Puck, the first test screenings of the film were very positive. An insider even claims that the characters of Sam Altman and Elon Musk are portrayed in a particularly unflattering manner and would be “those the public likes the least”.

Still according to Puck, the film would also have adopted a much darker tone than Amazon had originally imagined.

Since the studio’s withdrawal, several distributors have reportedly declined the offer, including Netflix, A24, Focus Features and the Clockwork division of Warner Bros.. Two candidates are still in the running: Neon and especially Mubi, which already has a special relationship with Luca Guadagnino after having accompanied Queer and the UK release of Suspiria.

Initially scheduled for release in early 2027, Artificial could therefore ultimately experience a much more eventful destiny than the one he tells on screen. Ironic for a film devoted to the power wars of Silicon Valley… which itself finds itself caught in a standoff between studios and tech giants.