Luca Guadagnino Gives Hope For ‘Artificial’ Release, Worries AI Is “Completely Changing” The World: “More Than Just Disturbing”

As Artificial remains in distribution limbo, Luca Guadagnino appears hopeful for the film’s release, but not so much for the state of the world living with AI.

Prefacing that he “can’t say much because we are right in the middle of this situation,” the Oscar nominee teased another potential route for his film about OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which Amazon MGM recently dropped from its slate.

“I was reading a great article yesterday recalling how, back in 2003, CBS cancelled a major drama series about the Reagans due to pressure from Republicans,” he said on the Italian news show Otto e Mezzo. “It was actually cancelled, though it later aired on a smaller channel.

Guadagnino explained that “the issue isn’t artificial intelligence itself,” adding: “What matters most to me is how people are completely changing the face, not just of society — in terms of consumption habits and how we interact with these tools — but the very face of the identity of a place like the United States and the entire world.”

The director noted that part of the film was shot in San Francisco, “a wonderful city, one of the great, distinguished U.S. cities, Alfred Hitchcock’s city — a place of great beauty but also great despair, with so many homeless people, so many people living under the influence of fentanyl, while these wonderful, silent, self-driving cars glided past them.

“That, to me, is the perfect image to illustrate the theme. It is a disturbing image — more than just disturbing,” added Guadagnino.

Last week, Deadline reported that Amazon will no longer release Artificial, and other distributors are now screening the film.

“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,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “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.”

Amazon and OpenAI also have a long-term relationship. Earlier this year, Amazon announced a $50 billion investment in OpenAI. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos has also been one of the leading advocates for developing AI technology.

Directed by Guadagnino from a screenplay by Saturday Night Live alum Simon Rich, Artificial explores Sam Altman’s OpenAI and the company’s turbulent period in 2023 when he was fired and rehired in a matter of days.

Starring Andrew Garfield as Altman, the ensemble cast also includes Mark Rylance, Yura Borisov, Monica Barbaro, Billie Lourd, Jason Schwartzman, Cooper Koch, Cooper Hoffman and Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk.