Openai Founder Sam Altman Biopic Artificial Finds New Backer In Neon After Being Dropped By Amazon Luca Guadagnino

Artificial, Luca Guadagnino's starry film about Sam Altman and OpenAI, generated quite a few headlines in June when Amazon MGM Studios backed out of producing it. This left the almost-completed film in limbo. But now, a new production house has acquired it, pretty much reviving the film from the dead.

Indie distributor Neon said on Tuesday that it had bought the film following a bidding process, according to a report by Associated Press. Neon has said that it plans to release the film later this year and “compete in this year's Oscar race.”

Neon declined to disclose how much it paid for the worldwide rights to Artificial. “The acquisition underscores Neon’s commitment to partnering with visionary filmmakers, and bringing ambitious cinema to audiences around the world,” the studio said in a statement.

In the past few years, Neon has established an enviable awards-season track record with Oscar winners like Parasite and Anora. The speciality label has backed the last seven Palme d'Or winners at the Cannes Film Festival.

Amazon dropped the nearly complete $40 million film, starring Andrew Garfield as Altman, last month in a surprise move that came just months after Amazon announced a multi-billion-dollar deal with OpenAI. While Amazon said then that Artificial would “be better served if it were released by a different studio,” there was speculation that the Amazon-OpenAI deal was instrumental in the studio not backing a film supposedly critical of the tech giant's founder.

The filmmaker has not commented on the matter so far.

Artificial, which chronicles the days leading up to the 2023 firing and reinstatement of Altman as OpenAI chief executive, stars Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman. It also stars Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov and Academy Award winner Mark Rylance, while Ike Barinholtz plays Elon Musk.