Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial hit by another release curveball after Amazon scandal
Luca Guadagnino’s controversial Artificial has a new home at Neon after Amazon’s exit — but don’t expect a big festival splash, with only limited screenings likely this year, per Deadline.
If you’ve been keeping an eye on Luca Guadagnino’s new film ‘Artificial’ (and honestly, who hasn’t with all the headlines), the saga around its release has become almost as dramatic as the subject matter itself. After falling out with Amazon, the movie has now landed at Neon, but it hasn’t exactly found smooth sailing from there.
Not Your Standard Festival Darling
The word on the street (well, via Deadline) is that ‘Artificial’ is going to pop up at a few major film festivals this year. Just don’t expect any glitzy red carpet events or the usual barrage of press junkets. The whole affair is shaping up to be quite subdued—no full-on media blitz, no parade of stars doing the rounds. In industry terms, the typical ‘big festival premiere’ playbook is out the window. And, let’s be honest, that’s a bit odd for a Luca Guadagnino film with his sort of pedigree.
Why the low profile? The answer, unsurprisingly, is all a bit tangled up with controversy and awkward timing.
What’s the Fuss About?
- Andrew Garfield stars as Sam Altman, the rather infamous CEO of OpenAI.
- Ike Barinholtz shows up as Elon Musk (yes, really, that Elon Musk), one of OpenAI’s co-founders.
- Supporting cast includes Mark Rylance, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Billie Lourd, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, and Cooper Hoffman.
- The film turned a few heads—possibly the wrong ones—when news dropped that it tackles OpenAI, artificial intelligence, and its power players in a way some see as less-than-flattering.
Back when Amazon was on board as distributor, the plan seemed to involve a much bigger release. That ended fast. Not long after Amazon announced they’d be investing a whopping $50 billion into OpenAI, they rather suddenly distanced themselves from the film.
The official line from Amazon was this:
That’s about as vague as these statements get, but industry chatter suggests Amazon’s pull-out was a mix of not wanting to rock the boat with their new AI partners and being a bit spooked by the film’s much darker tone. Not exactly the sort of thing you want to be front and centre while you’re throwing tens of billions at an AI firm. Naturally, none of this has done the film any favours for awards season potential. Without big festival exposure and strong media buzz, the chances of ‘Artificial’ making a dent at the 2027 Oscars are, frankly, looking pretty slim.
For those keeping track, the producing team behind this whole wild ride includes Simon Rich (also credited as writer), along with Guadagnino himself, David Heyman, Jeffrey Clifford, and Jennifer Fox.
As for when any of us will actually get to see it? There’s still no official release date, so your guess is as good as mine.