Following its being unexpectedly dumped by Amazon MGM Studios on Friday, it appears several potential buyers of Luca Guadagnino’s “Artificial” have opted not to acquire it, according to Variety.
Specifically, the trade indicates that Focus Features, Warner’s new specialty label Clockwork, A24 and streaming giant Netflix have all dropped out of the running. MUBI is said to be still pursuing the film, and Neon is also possibly circling.
The film follows the meteoric rise of OpenAI – the company behind ChatGPT – along with the personal rivalries, ego clashes, and ethical tensions behind the scenes.
The cast includes Andrew Garfield as current CEO Sam Altman, Yura Borisov as machine learning engineer Ilya Sutskever, Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk along with Monica Barbaro, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman and Mark Rylance. The film is presently in the final stages of post-production.
Costing $40 million to produce, Guadagnino’s film has been screened for potential distributors in the last couple days to try and find a new home in the wake of the Amazon exit. Amazon’s decision follows just months after the company announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI.
Reports have suggested that the film is “significantly darker” than previously anticipated, and the trade indicates it is rumored to portray both Altman and Musk in a not particularly flattering way. Simon Rich (“An American Pickle,” FXX’s “Man Seeking Woman”) penned the screenplay.
