LOS ANGELES, June 27 — Luca Guadagnino has acknowledged the commercial and political pressures that led Amazon MGM to shelve his film “Artificial,” but the Italian director is refusing to detail the mechanics behind the decision. He says he is “right in the middle of this situation.” The film, which stars Andrew Garfield as OpenAI chief Sam Altman, was dropped by Amazon MGM several months after the company struck a significant partnership with the artificial intelligence firm.
That deal included a USD 50 billion investment from Amazon to expand OpenAI’s use of Amazon Web Services and develop custom AI models. Appearing on the Italian talk show “Otto e Mezzo” on La7 Attualita on Friday, Guadagnino was asked directly why the film was perceived as dangerous.
“Unfortunately, I can’t say much because we are right in the middle of this situation,” he said. The director drew a historical parallel, recalling how CBS cancelled a major drama series about the Reagans in 2003 following pressure from Republicans, though the show eventually aired on a smaller channel. “It’s far from the first time this type of commercial and political pressure has happened,” he noted.
MUBI is among the distributors still in consideration to pick up the project. Netflix, A24 and Focus Features have already passed.
Turning to the broader AI debate, Guadagnino said his concern was less with the technology itself and more with its social consequences. “The issue isn’t artificial intelligence itself — the tool used to generate products of knowledge or creative works. From one perspective, it’s a technological gadget — and not a particularly sophisticated one — full of flaws, though it will likely improve over time,” he said.
“The scientists who developed artificial general intelligence believe that — even though right now…”
