Luca Guadagnino to direct OpenAI drama Artificial for Amazon MGM

Amazon MGM is producing Artificial, a dramatized retelling of Sam Altman’s 2023 firing and rehiring at OpenAI, with Luca Guadagnino set to direct.

Luca Guadagnino, previously of Challengers and Call Me By Your Name, is set to direct Artificial, a dramatized retelling of Sam Altman’s 2023 firing and rehiring at OpenAI, for Amazon MGM.

The key cast, which has not yet been officially confirmed, is touted to include Andrew Garfield as OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Monica Barbaro as the company’s chief technology officer Mira Murati, and Yura Borisov as its former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever.

AI boardroom drama

OpenAI’s board ousted Altman in November 2023 over safety concerns and internal friction.

Mira Murati was briefly named interim CEO, but internal pressure mounted as over 700 of the 770 OpenAI employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless Altman was reinstated.

Ilya Sutskever, initially seen as a key instigator, later backtracked, tweeting regret and helping to negotiate Altman’s return.

Altman was brought back within five days after Microsoft-backed pressure.

Filming starts this summer

The production is pending soon, with Guadagnino and his crew planning to start filming in San Francisco and Italy this summer. No official release date is set yet.

Guadagnino is already very familiar with Amazon MGM, having worked with them on Challengers (2024) and After the Hunt (upcoming).

Like The Social Network did for Zuckerberg and Facebook, Artificial could shape how the public remembers the 2023 AI crisis.

There has been no comment yet from OpenAI or Sam Altman himself regarding the announcement.