Los Angeles: Actor Andrew Garfield says he is grateful that 'Artificial', filmmaker Luca Guadagnino's new movie about OpenAI chief Sam Altman, has found "the home that it was meant to find" after being dropped by Amazon MGM Studios.
Independent distributor Neon recently acquired the global rights to the nearly completed film, after Amazon MGM Studios dropped the project weeks earlier, saying it believed the movie would be "better served if it were released by a different studio".
"I was and I wasn't (surprised). I think there are certain things that fit certain places and don't fit other places and they (Amazon) were nothing but supportive and nothing but encouraging while we were making the film.
"Luca has a really great relationship with them and I've developed a lovely relationship with them as well. I'm grateful that they've helped the film to find the home that it was meant to find," Garfield told Variety while promoting his upcoming film 'The Magic Faraway Tree'.
Written by former 'Saturday Night Live' writer Simon Rich, 'Artificial' chronicles the dramatic events surrounding the brief ouster and reinstatement of Sam Altman as chief executive of OpenAI in 2023, as the battle over the future of artificial intelligence unfolds.
Garfield, known for movies such as 'The Social Network', 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and 'Hacksaw Ridge', plays Altman in the film.
Amazon's decision to part ways with 'Artificial' came months after it entered into a major partnership with OpenAI.
Garfield said he did not reach out to Altman while preparing to portray the OpenAI chief executive.
"I wouldn't know how to. I don't have his number. I don't have his email. But I'm sure that he'd be able to reach me if he wants to. I'd be very excited and curious to talk with him if he would ever want to do that," he said.
The actor said there was enough publicly available material to study Altman.
"He's very, very documented. There are lots of interviews. There's lots of visuals and audio and reporting. I, of course, would have loved and still would love to meet Sam. But I'm playing a version of the character that was written in the script," Garfield said.
'Artificial' also stars Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov, Mark Rylance, Ike Barinholtz, Jason Schwartzman, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Hoffman, Chris O'Dowd, Cooper Koch and Billie Lourd.
Neon plans to mount an awards campaign for the film in the upcoming Oscar season.