Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman movie dropped by Amazon after it announces OpenAI partnership

Artificial, Luca Guadagnino’s controversial Sam Altman biopic, which is poised for an awards run next year, has been dropped by its distributor, Amazon. In a statement first reported by Puck, Amazon said that it believes “that Artificial will be better served if it were released by a different studio and are working closely with the film-making team to find the film a new home”. Amazon’s decision to leave the project comes in the wake of a significant partnership struck between Amazon and OpenAI, of which Altman is CEO. The deal will see Amazon – whose owner, Jeff Bezos, is friends with Altman – immediately invest $15bn in the company, “followed by another $35bn in the coming months when certain conditions are met,” according to the artificial intelligence company’s website. This follows a $38bn cloud computing deal signed by the two companies last year. It is believed that the film, which stars Andrew Garfield as Altman and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk, is not a flattering portrayal of the tech mogul. Prime cuts … Luca Guadagnino Photograph: Kate Green/Getty Images for BFI “We have the utmost respect and admiration for Luca Guadagnino as an award-winning film-maker – not to mention a longstanding relationship that we hope to continue,” added Amazon. The film, which is scripted by award-winning comedy writer Simon Rich, wrapped shooting last autumn and is said to focus on the dramatic firing and rehiring of Altman in 2023. …