John Nacion/Variety via Getty Images
Amazon has officially dropped Luca Guadagnino’s newest film Artificial, a drama about OpenAI creator Sam Altman, months after investing $50 billion in Altman’s artificial intelligence company, per a report in Variety over the weekend.
Following Amazon MGM’s unceremonious cancellation of the film, which was slated to premiere in 2027, Guadagnino has begun shopping the film around to several other major studios. Focus Features, Warner Bros., A24 and Netflix have all passed on the project already, according to Variety. However, both Mubi — which has released critical darlings such as The Substance and Die My Love — and Neon are still considering picking up the film, the outlet reports.
Artificial stars Andrew Garfield as Altman and reportedly depicts him as a pathological liar. The film also features Elon Musk, played by Emmy nominee Ike Barinholtz, in a “highly antipathetic” depiction, according to Variety.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon did not mention its relationship with Altman or OpenAI as a reason for the sudden move.
“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,” a spokesperson for Amazon told The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
The film’s inability to find a distributor shows just how deeply enmeshed Hollywood and tech companies have become: Thrive Capital’s Josh Kushner, who backs A24, also holds a seat on OpenAI’s board, per Variety.
Mubi has a history of saving dropped films. It rescued Oscar-nominated film The Substance after Universal reportedly dropped it over director Coralie Fargeat’s refusal to change the ending. Mubi has also previously released Guadagnino’s Oscar-nominated film Queer.
Artificial is written by Saturday Night Live alum Simon Rich, who previously wrote the film An American Pickle. The film also has an all-star cast; starring alongside Garfield and Barinholtz are Anora actor Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Chris O’Dowd and Mark Rylance.
Guadagnino has been on a high-volume of output since his films Challengers and Queer both opened in 2024, followed by After the Hunt, which received a more tepid reception, in 2025.
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