Lucas Guadagnino breaks silence on Amazon axing his AI movie

Lucas Guadagnino had been working on a movie titled Artificial.

It was nearly finished and inspired by Sam Altman — the CEO of OpenAI.

However, Amazon MGM, which was bankrolling the project, pulled the plug.

Interesting: the streamer's decision came just a few days after the company inked a $50 billion deal with OpenAI.

Now the noted Italian director is speaking out.

In an interview with Italian TV, Guadagnino, though, did not outright criticize Amazon, but he did add that such decisions by corporations are not uncommon.

“I can’t say much because we are right in the middle of this situation,” he said, adding, “But these are industrial policies that are certainly not new."

"The issue isn't artificial intelligence itself," he continued. "It's the people controlling it."

The filmmaker then cited the example of The Reagans – a miniseries dropped by CBS in 2003 – over political backlash.

Coming back to Artificial. The $40 million film is in limbo.

CAA Media Finance, which is repping Guadagnino, has been scouring for buyers for Artificial.

Though key studios such as Netflix, Focus Features, and A24 reportedly turned down the offer.