Summary

  • Amazon has removed the nearly finished film "Artificial," which features Sam Altman, from its release schedule and is seeking other distributors.
  • The film, starring Andrew Garfield, reportedly presents Altman in a negative light, and the decision follows Amazon's substantial $50 billion investment in OpenAI.
  • CAA is currently screening the film to find potential new distributors, according to reports.

Amazon has decided to cancel the release of "Artificial," a prominent film about Sam Altman's short-lived ousting as CEO of OpenAI, pulling it from its schedule and looking to sell it to other production companies.

The company confirmed this decision to Puck late Thursday. Mike Hopkins, who oversees Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, informed director Luca Guadagnino (“Challengers,” “Call Me By Your Name”) and the production team that the film would not be released as planned.

“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,” an Amazon representative stated. “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 movie, penned by Simon Rich, stars Andrew Garfield as Altman and Yura Borisov as OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, drawing parallels to the drama surrounding the founding of Facebook in "The Social Network." Puck reports that an early draft of the script portrayed Altman unfavorably, depicting him as ambitious and manipulative; in one scene, computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton referred to Altman as "one of the most manipulative people on the planet."

A source familiar with Amazon's perspective indicated that the tone of the finished film became significantly darker than what was initially proposed, leading Hopkins to stop its release after viewing a cut.

This decision follows Amazon's recent $50 billion investment in OpenAI, coinciding with Altman's growing connections to the Trump administration—relationships that Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos have also been keen to maintain. Creative Artists Agency is actively screening the film for potential new distributors.