Amazon MGM Drops Sam Altman Biopic 'Artificial'
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- Amazon MGM has dropped Luca Guadagnino's film 'Artificial' about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with Puck first reporting the decision and Deadline confirming the studio's statement.
- The studio said the movie "will be better served if it were released by a different studio" and is working closely with the filmmaking team to find it a new home.
- The film covers the five days in November 2023 when Altman was fired and re-hired as OpenAI CEO and had been in development for roughly a year.
- Andrew Garfield stars as Altman, with Monica Barbaro as OpenAI CTO Mira Murati, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, and Yura Borisov as chief scientist Ilya Sutskever.
- Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI in February, underscoring the close business relationship between the studio and the company at the center of the film.
Why it matters: Amazon's $50 billion investment in OpenAI, announced in February, creates a direct conflict of interest for a studio bankrolling its CEO's dramatic corporate ouster on screen. Amazon MGM dropping 'Artificial' leaves a nearly completed film — with Andrew Garfield already cast as Altman — shopping for a new distributor willing to dramatize the 2023 boardroom crisis.
