Okay, Now We Really Want to See Luca Guadagnino’s Sam Altman Movie

There is no way to make a movie more tantalizing than by telling the public that they can’t have it. That’s what happened with Coyote vs. Acme, and it’s what’s happening now with Luca Guadagnino’s upcoming Sam Altman movie, Artificial. The movie, which stars Andrew Garfield as the OpenAI boss, was abruptly dropped by AmazonMGM despite being nearly finished. Since then, multiple potential buyers have screened the movie and passed on buying it, per Variety. They include Netflix, A24, Warner Bros.’ Clockwork, and Focus Features. However, the smaller studios Mubi and, potentially, Neon are interested. Both studios have handled major releases and awards contenders including The Substance (Mubi) and Best Picture winners in Parasite and Anora (Neon). Could either take the story of a lost movie and spin it even bigger?

That narrative is certainly tantalizing given Amazon dropped the film shortly after making $50 billion deal with OpenAI in February. “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,” a spokesperson for Amazon said in a statement. “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.” Given that the movie is reportedly critical of Altman, it’s hard not to root for it to become a major player in the wake of an aborted release. Release the Guadagnino cut!