Amazon Shelves Sam Altman Film ‘Artificial’ After $50B OpenAI Deal
Amazon removed the nearly finished film ‘Artificial,’ a dramatization of Sam Altman’s 2023 ouster at OpenAI, and is seeking another distributor after a $50 billion OpenAI investment.
Amazon has pulled the nearly finished film ‘Artificial’ from its release calendar and is offering the project to other studios.
Mike Hopkins, who oversees Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told director Luca Guadagnino and the producing team on Thursday that Amazon would not proceed with the planned release. The studio removed the title from its schedule and notified the filmmakers that the project was being shopped.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company holds “the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award‑winning filmmaker” and added that it believes “‘Artificial’ will be better served if it were released by a different studio.” The spokesperson said Amazon is working with the filmmaking team to find a new home for the film.
The film, written by Simon Rich and directed by Guadagnino, stars Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman and Yura Borisov as OpenAI co‑founder Ilya Sutskever. It dramatizes Altman’s brief removal as OpenAI CEO in 2023.
People involved in the production said executives screened a completed cut and judged its tone to be darker than the version initially pitched. An earlier draft of the script reportedly portrayed Altman in an unflattering light, including a scene in which a character identifies him as highly manipulative.
Creative Artists Agency is screening the film for potential distributors. The project was nearly complete at the time Amazon removed it from the calendar.
The shelving came months after Amazon invested $50 billion in OpenAI earlier this year. Company officials and people familiar with the situation noted the timing between the investment and Amazon’s decision to halt the release.
Sam Altman has developed relationships with members of the Trump administration in recent months. Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos, have also maintained ties with that administration.
Amazon said it hopes to continue its working relationship with Guadagnino while finding another studio to handle distribution for the film.
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