UPDATED with deal done: Neon has officially acquired, from Amazon MGM Studios, global rights to Luca Guadagnino‘s Artificial.
The film, written by SNL‘s Simon Rich, chronicles the incredibly consequential days leading up to the sudden firing and reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, as the fate of who gets to control the technology at the center of an AI arms race hangs in the balance. The acquisition underscores Neon’s commitment to partnering with visionary filmmakers, and bringing ambitious cinema to audiences around the world. Artificial will compete in this year’s Oscar race.
Pic is produced by Rich and Guadagnino, alongside Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford, and Jennifer Fox. Shot in San Francisco and Italy, the film was edited by longtime Guadagnino collaborator Marco Costa, with cinematography by Malik Hassan Sayeed, production design by Stefano Baisi, costumes by JW, and an original score and original songs by Damon Albarn.
The deal was negotiated by Alison Cohen for NEON, with CAA Media Finance and Amazon MGM Studios.
Neon has made it known that Artificial is joining its awards slate for this year, so get ready to watch this one at a festival near you. Typically, Guadagnino world premieres his wares at Venice where he previously won the Silver Lion for 2022’s Bones and All.
Neon also has Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner, Fjord, James Gray’s Paper Tiger, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Cannes prize winner, All of a Sudden, Hirokazu Koreeda’s Sheep in the Box, Director Na’s Hope, Arie and Chuko’s Clarissa,and William and David Greaves’s Once Upon a Time in Harlem.
PREVIOUSLY, 11:43AM: Following Amazon MGM’s announcement that they wouldn’t be releasing Artificial, Luca Guadagnino’s new movie on OpenAI’s Sam Altman, we understand that Neon is in talks to pick it up.
This is after it seemed the film was heading to Mubi.
One source told us that the movie in its subject matter was a hot potato with some studios even passing on screening the film.
A deal figure wasn’t disclosed. Amazon MGM made its announcement on Artificial two weeks ago, issuing the following statement: “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.”
While Amazon didn’t get into further detail as to the motivations behind its move with Artificial, it’s been widely noted that Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI earlier this year.
We heard that the film was tested by Amazon MGM Studios, and the audience reaction was good. The studio remains in business with Guadagnino despite unloading Artificial; the Oscar-nominated filmmaker having had four projects there including Suspiria, Bones and All (during the pre MGM acquisition days), Challengers and After the Hunt.
Directed by Guadagnino from a script by Simon Rich, Artificial explores the turbulent period in 2023 when Altman was fired and rehired as OpenAI’s in a matter of days. Andrew Garfield stars as Altman, leading a cast that also includes Mark Rylance, Andrew Garfield, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Billie Lourd, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Cooper Hoffman and Ike Barinholtz. The project came together following Guadagnino’s work with Amazon on the films Challengers and After the Hunt.
Reps for Neon declined to comment. Puck’s Matt Belloni was first to the news of the acquisition talks.
