“Artificial” star Andrew Garfield is weighing Amazon MGM Studios’ decision to drop the Luca Guadagnino-directed film about Sam Altman and OpenAI.

“I was and I was not [surprised]” the Oscar winner told me on Wednesday while promoting his new film “The Magic Faraway Tree.” “I think there are certain things that fit in certain places and don’t fit in other places and [Amazon] They were nothing but support and encouragement while we were making the film. Luca has a really great relationship with them and I’ve developed a lovely relationship with them too. “I am grateful that they helped the film find the home it was meant to find.”

The film scripted by Simon Rich chronicles the firing and rehiring of Altman, played by Garfield, by OpenAI in 2023.

Neon acquired the nearly completed $40 million film after Amazon MGM Studios announced that it believed it “would be better if released by a different studio.” Amazon’s decision came just months after the company signed a major partnership with OpenAI, including a $50 billion investment, and less than a year after Altman attended Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’ wedding.

The cast also includes Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov, Mark Rylance, Ike Barinholtz, Jason Schwartzman, Zosia Mamet, Cooper Hoffman, Chris O’Dowd, Cooper Koch and Billie Lourd.

Neon has committed to launching an awards campaign to get “Artificial” into this year’s Oscar race.

Garfield said he did not contact Altman as part of his research and preparation for the role.

“I wouldn’t know how to do it. I don’t have his number. I don’t have his email,” Garfield said. “But I’m sure he’ll be able to contact me if he wants. I’d be very excited and curious to talk to him if he ever wanted to do that.”

It’s not that there wasn’t enough public material to draw from. “It’s very, very documented,” Garfield said. “There are a lot of interviews. There’s a lot of footage and audio and reporting. Of course, I 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, and I think that, while you want to be as honest as possible, you’re never going to fully understand anyone anyway. We’re all very complicated and deeply layered, and I think Mr. Altman is probably no exception.”

I also caught up with Hoffman, whose role in “Artificial” has not been revealed, Tuesday night at the Los Angeles premiere of his raunchy new Gregg Araki film, “I Want Your Sex.” The actor said he was not surprised that Amazon pulled out of “Artificial.”

“I’m surprised they caught it in the first place,” Hoffman said. “I felt like everyone was like, I don’t know… I don’t know who’s running everything. When they dropped it, it was like, ‘Oh yeah, that actually makes sense,’ but then it got picked up by Neon, which makes me really happy. I love Neon and I couldn’t be happier.”