{"slug": "neon-closing-in-on-luca-guadagninos-sam-altman-open-ai-movie-artificial-after", "title": "Neon Closing in on Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman Open AI Movie ‘Artificial’ After Amazon Drops Controversial Film", "summary": "Neon is nearing a deal to acquire Luca Guadagnino's film 'Artificial' about Sam Altman and OpenAI after Amazon MGM Studios dropped the project, citing it would be better served by a different studio. The $40 million film portrays Altman as untrustworthy and Elon Musk as dislikable, and had positive test screenings before Amazon exited following its $50 billion partnership with OpenAI.", "body_md": "“[Artificial](https://variety.com/t/artificial/),” [Luca Guadagnino](https://variety.com/t/luca-guadagnino/)‘s movie about Sam Altman and OpenAI, is about to get a new home.\n\n[Neon](https://variety.com/t/neon/) is closing in on a deal to acquire the nearly-completed $40 million film — set during the tumultuous time when Altman (played by Andrew Garfield) was fired and then rehired by the AI giant — after Amazon MGM Studios announced that it believed it would “be better served if it were released by a different studio.”\n\n*Variety* reported that, of those who had seen the movie in screenings put on by CAA Media Finance — which is handling sales — Netflix, A24 and Focus chose not to pursue it. [Mubi](https://variety.com/2026/film/global/luca-guadagnino-artificial-sam-altman-netflix-a24-mubi-1236786623/) was also in the mix for the distribution rights.\n\n### Popular on Variety\n\nAmazon’s decision came just months after the company signed a major partnership with OpenAI, including a $50 billion investment, and less than a year Altman’s relationship with Jeff Bezos was underlined by his appearance at the Amazon boss’s wedding. *Variety* heard that test screenings had been positive, but the studio still chose to exit, raising eyebrows about its motivations.\n\nAccording to various people who have seen the film and read the script, “Artificial” portrays Altman as deeply untrustworthy and Elon Musk (played by Ike Barinholtz) as highly dislikable.\n\nAlongside Garfield and Barinholtz, “Artificial” has a starry cast including Monica Barbaro as former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and Yura Borisov as former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Angus Imrie, Chris O’Dowd and Mark Rylance also feature. The film was written by “SNL” alum Simon Rich.\n\nCurrently in the final stages of post-production, “Artificial” had been eyeing a festival launch at SXSW before Amazon’s departure. Given the latest acquisition, the movie could now potentially be in play for a slot at the Venice Film Festival, where Guadagnino’s previous films debuted.\n\nSpokespeople for Amazon and CAA declined to comment, and a spokesperson from Neon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Puck first reported Neon’s pole position in the dealmaking.\n\n*Angelique Jackson contributed to this report.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/neon-closing-in-on-luca-guadagninos-sam-altman-open-ai-movie-artificial-after", "canonical_source": "https://variety.com/2026/film/global/neon-luca-guadagnino-artificial-openai-movie-amazon-1236787919/", "published_at": "2026-06-30 18:46:48+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-30 18:54:36.760820+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-ethics", "ai-policy", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Neon", "Luca Guadagnino", "Sam Altman", "OpenAI", "Amazon MGM Studios", "Andrew Garfield", "Elon Musk", "CAA Media Finance"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/neon-closing-in-on-luca-guadagninos-sam-altman-open-ai-movie-artificial-after", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/neon-closing-in-on-luca-guadagninos-sam-altman-open-ai-movie-artificial-after.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/neon-closing-in-on-luca-guadagninos-sam-altman-open-ai-movie-artificial-after.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/neon-closing-in-on-luca-guadagninos-sam-altman-open-ai-movie-artificial-after.jsonld"}}