OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he had nothing to do with Amazon MGM’s decision to drop “Artificial,” director Luca Guadagnino’s new film about him, claiming that he “never spoke” to Jeff Bezos about the movie.
Written by “Miracle Workers” creator Simon Rich, “Artificial” stars Andrew Garfield as Altman. The biopic explores the period when Altman was infamously fired and then rehired by OpenAI. Ike Barinholtz also stars in the film as OpenAI co-founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
In June, Amazon MGM chose to drop the movie from its release slate. The move was met with heavy criticism online and throughout the industry, given that it was announced just months after Amazon signed a $50 billion partnership deal with OpenAI in February of this year. Despite that timing, Altman says he did not play a role in Amazon’s decision.
“I did not, and I don’t know of anyone else who did,” Altman told Vanity Fair in a Monday interview, adding, “I never spoke to Jeff Bezos about it.”
Shortly after Amazon dropped it, “Artificial” was picked up by Neon. The latter intends to release it in limited theaters on Christmas Day before rolling it out to more theaters in January. In anticipation of its release, the first “Artificial” trailer premiered online in early September. It offered viewers their first look at Garfield’s take on Altman, which the OpenAI CEO revealed he got his own preview of in-person months prior.
“They filmed outside of our house. There were these notices on our street that there was going to be some filming or whatever. I didn’t realize what was going on. I paid no attention,” Altman told VF. “And then one morning I was walking down the street to get coffee and there were all these cameras and there was a guy dressed exactly like me with my same backpack walking so much that I felt I was in some weird glitch of the simulation or something.”
“It was very strange. And then I immediately figured out what was happening. We waved and went on, but it was really weird. I mean, it’s like a strange thing to see someone that has nailed your kind of quirky mannerisms or whatever,” the OpenAI CEO continued, noting of his brief interaction with Garfield: “I waved at him that one time and that was it.”
Altman gave Garfield credit for nailing his walk and mannerisms, but he also told Vanity Fair that he does not believe “Artificial” will deliver an “accurate depiction” of who he is or what his daily life is like. The OpenAI CEO specifically pushed back against a moment in the “Artificial” trailer when Garfield’s version of him is shown walking into an underground bunker with walls lined with guns.
“I don’t think they’re going for accuracy,” Altman said. “They’re trying to make a good movie and maybe it will be good. I don’t know. Good as a movie. It will not be good as an accurate depiction. Except for the walk. That seemed good. I’m sure they’ll get some other parts right, at least accidentally.”
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