OpenAI founder Sam Altman's biopic, Artificial, finds new backer in Neon after being dropped by Amazon

Artificial, directed by Luca Guadagnino, was dropped by Amazon despite being almost complete. It now has a new backer.

Updated on: Jul 1, 2026, 09:12:34 IST

Written by Abhimanyu Mathur

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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.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is played by Andrew Garfiled in Artificial.

Neon acquires Artificial

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.

How Artificial was dropped by Amazon

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.

In late February, Amazon signed an expansive multiyear partnership with the artificial intelligence startup. Then, earlier this month, Amazon MGM said it would put the film up for sale to find it a new home.

Variety quoted a spokesperson for Amazon as saying, “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. 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 filmmaker has not commented on the matter so far.

About Artificial

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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