Amazon drops Sam Altman film after $50 billion OpenAI deal

Amazon's MGM Studios has pulled Luca Guadagnino's Sam Altman biopic Artificial, which had been set to be distributed by the studio. In a statement, Amazon said, "We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning filmmaker—not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue. We believe that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the filmmaking team to find the film a new home."

Guadagnino is in post-production on the film, which stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and was written by former SNL writer Simon Rich. The screenplay focuses on the 2023 period when OpenAI fired and rehired Altman within a few days.

In February, Amazon formed a $50 billion "strategic partnership" with OpenAI.

The cast also includes Mark Rylance, Yura Borisov, Jason Schwartzman and Ike Barinholtz. Deadline says the film is being shopped to other studios.

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