Last week, there was a massive shake-up concerning Luca Guadagnino‘s tech-bro biopic “Artificial” as the film’s backers and distributor Amazon MGM Studios dropped the film (said to be connected to owner Jeff Bezos‘ sus business relationship with the film’s subject, Sam Altman of OpenAI, steeming from a $50 billion deal and their overall interests within the AI industry) and would be out to new suitors after it has been reportedly screened in a near-complete form to would-be buyers.
Over the weekend, we learned from Variety reported that MUBI and NEON are said to be interested in “Artificial” after a slew of other studios have seemingly passed on it, such as A24 (has a connection to OpenAI via Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, the brother of Jared Kusher and connected by marriage to President Trump, who has a huge personal interest in AI), Netflix, Warner Bros‘ shingle Clockwork, and Focus Features, after getting a look at it, as it’s now out to auction to find new partners.
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Our very own Gregory Ellwood mentioned some behind-the-scenes reporting in today’s newsletter, The Breakdown. He has heard from two unnamed distributors who said that “Artificial” was up for sale between $40-50 million (a specific number wasn’t locked down but the range is certainly pausible) and that they are under the impression that Guadagnino would need some sort of festival push (possibly at the Venice Film Festival in September), “Two studios we talked to said it was for sale for $50 million, another was told $40 million, and another believed a rev-share with Amazon MGM [Studios] was on the table…Other distributors believed the filmmakers would insist on a Venice premiere and a fall release, and they simply have too much on their current plate.”
Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network”) would be playing Altman with others in the cast, featuring Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”), Yura Borisov (“Anora”), Cooper Hoffman (“The Long Walk”), Jason Schwartzman (“Asteroid City”), Billie Lourd (“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”), Chris O’Dowd (“Bender”), Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies”), and Ike Barinholtz (“The Studio”) in the part of Elon Musk, who recent had his lawsuit against the company tossed out back in May.
Originally, there had been speculation that “Artificial” was being delayed from a release date in 2026 to avoid any comparison to Aaron Sorkin‘s “The Social Reckoning” (the companion piece to “The Social Network” coming in October and assumed to be debuting at Venice), but we now clearly understand that the politics and business hijinks are more likely in play here. Hopefully, the deals will be secured quickly so the post-production process can be completed and a festival debut can be put together ahead of a traditional theatrical release. Both MUBI and NEON are distributors that aren’t afraid of controversial projects and feel like a really good fit for this one; we’re certainly more optimistic with those two involved with it.
- Christopher Marc
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