UPDATE: NEON has officially acquired, from Amazon MGM Studios, global rights to Luca Guadagnino‘s Artificial.
The film 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 NEONs commitment to partnering with visionary filmmakers, and bringing ambitious cinema to audiences around the world. Artificial will compete in this year’s Oscar race.
Anchored by a powerhouse ensemble, the film stars Oscar® nominees, Andrew Garlfied as Sam Altman, Yura Borisov (Anora) as Ilya Sutskever, Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown) as Mira Murati, and Oscar® winner Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) as Nobel Prize Winner Geoffrey Hinton. The cast is rounded out by Ike Barinholtz, Jason Schwartzman, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Hoffman, Chris O’Dowd, Cooper Koch and Billie Lourd.
The script, penned by SNL alum Simon Rich, 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.
As one of contemporary cinema’s defining auteurs, the AcademyAward® nominated director reteams with Garfield, who starred in Guadagnino’s previous film, After the Hunt. Artificial joins an acclaimed body of work that includes the Oscar® nominated, Call Me By Your Name, and Challengers, as well as I Am Love, Suspiria, Bones and All, and Queer.
The deal was negotiated by Alison Cohen for NEON, with CAA Media Finance and Amazon MGM Studios.
Artificial joins NEON’s award-winning 2026 slate, alongside 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. Earlier this year, the studio received recognition at the 98th Academy Awards®, including Best Picture nods for Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent (with the former ultimately winning Best International Feature Film) – recent milestones including the record-breaking IMAX opening of EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert and Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice crossing $10 million domestically. Most recently, the company released Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters and Adrian Chiarella’s Sundance hit, Leviticus.
PREVIOUS, 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.
