From Ars Technica · · 2m
Gibney's Musk doc splits into two films
Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney's four-hour documentary presents Elon Musk as a confidence man rather than a visionary, but struggles with its own structure.
In brief
Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney's four-hour documentary presents Elon Musk as a confidence man rather than a visionary, but struggles with its own structure. Alex Gibney's four-hour Musk documentary portrays him as a Gilded Age confidence man rather than a tech visionary, but the film feels like two separate movies…
Gibney takes on Musk
Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney has made a four-hour biographical documentary simply titled Musk that challenges the public image of Elon Musk as a visionary tech titan.
Musk as confidence man
Gibney presents Musk as a Gilded Age confidence man for the twenty-first century: an investor pretending to be an inventor whose real talent is pumping stocks and dazzling investors.
Gibney's track record
Gibney has been making documentaries since the nineteen eighties covering Jimi Hendrix, WikiLeaks, Scientology, Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Holmes, Lance Armstrong and the opioid epidemic.
Musk threatens lawsuit
Before release, Musk drew the ire of its subject and threats of a defamation lawsuit. There were unfounded rumors that Universal Pictures was getting cold feet about theatrically releasing the film internationally.
Extensive coverage
The film covers Tesla and fatalities linked to its driver-assistance systems, SpaceX, Starlink, Musk's Twitter purchase, his shift on AI, his embrace of Trump, the creation of DOGE, alleged drug use and his fourteen possibly…
Two films in one
The documentary feels like two very different films.The first half focuses on Musk's early entrepreneurial years with archival footage and interviews.
HBO asked for more
Gibney finished the documentary in twenty twenty-four but HBO asked him to keep going to document Musk's heel turn.
AI Musk stands in
Musk declined to be interviewed for the film, so Gibney created an AI version of Musk uttering verbatim public quotes as a stand-in.
Portrait of corruption
Gibney portrays Musk as a tragic anti-hero corrupted by wealth and power, what Gibney calls noble cause corruption.
“noble cause corruption”
Musk opens October fourteenth
Musk is now playing in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles. It will open broadly across the United States on October fourteen, twenty twenty-six.
At a glance
Alex Gibney's four-hour Musk documentary portrays him as a Gilded Age confidence man rather than a tech visionary, but the film feels like two separate movies spliced together.
