Luca Guadagnino might direct a film about OpenAI

Luca Guadagnino is continuing his cinematic marathon by entering talks for a new project, this time focused on new technologies. While the Palermo-born director’s recent projects have mainly focused on past stories, such as the literary adaptation of Queer and the upcoming American Psycho, and on sports, like Challengers, he is close to finalizing a new production for Amazon MGM Studios about Sam Altman's company, OpenAI. The news, published by Deadline, came after the one-year postponement of Sgt. Rock, a film starring Colin Farrell that Guadagnino will make for DC Studios. Rumors about the negotiations for the film on the founder of the artificial intelligence platform are strong: the project could be titled Artificial and may feature a star-studded cast including Andrew Garfield, Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown, co-star of the director's favorite Timothée Chalamet), and Yura Borisov (Anora).

Not many details have been released about the plot of Artificial, as the film is still in negotiation, but it is said to portray what happened in 2023, when OpenAI founder Altman was fired and then immediately reinstated at the top of the company. The screenplay will not be written by Guadagnino, but by Simon Rich (Saturday Night Live and Pixar), and although the film is still in development, it is expected to enter production this year. This is not the first time Guadagnino has worked behind the camera for Amazon: after Challengers, the hit 2024 film about the world of tennis starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist, After the Hunt is also set to be released in October — a thriller centered on the story of a university professor facing a serious accusation of sexual harassment, with stars like Julia Roberts, once again Andrew Garfield, and Ayo Edebiri. The news that Guadagnino, after having to postpone a film by a year, immediately sought a new project for 2025 does not surprise the director’s fans, who in recent years has worked on a wide range of projects, from "classic" film works to an exhibition in Venice, from a campaign for Chanel N°5 to interior design for Palazzo Talìa in Rome. In 2020, in an interview with Rolling Stone Italia, the director admitted to working “thirteen hours a day without stopping.” As if that weren't enough, in his spare time he also enjoys writing obituaries for Corriere della Sera, soon to be collected in a book.