From Rolling Stone · Jon Blistein · · 1m 30s
Gibney says Musk never called back
Elon Musk trashed a four-hour documentary about himself on X, then went quiet when the director tried to talk.
In brief
Elon Musk trashed a four-hour documentary about himself on X, then went quiet when the director tried to talk. Musk attacked the film publicly and threatened to sue, but never took up the director's repeated offers to respond on the record. Originally reported by Rolling Stone.
Still no call back
Alex Gibney says he reached out to Elon Musk right after Musk went after his documentary. Speaking at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 13, Gibney said the silence has held.
“But he clearly wasn't interested in talking”
Years of unanswered requests
Gibney said his team made repeated formal approaches to Musk while making the film. Nothing came back except Musk's posts on X.
“we received nothing back”
The X attack
After the film premiered at Venice, Musk called Gibney a filmmaker with zero integrity and dismissed the interviewees. It is not clear he has actually watched it.
“who either have an axe to grind or don't even know me (but still have an axe to grind)”
A lawyer's letter lands
Musk attorney Alex Spiro warned Gibney's company, Jigsaw Productions, of a defamation suit before the October theatrical release.
Lasers in space
The letter centers on texts Musk sent Ashley St. Clair before the 2024 election. Spiro says the lasers line describes Starlink satellite links, not a vote-rigging plot, and that the film knew better.
“'Lasers' from space … I have over 10 thousand lasers in space.”
Storm clouds over HBO
The film streams on HBO Max after theaters, but Gibney fears the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount merger could bury it. Paramount's David Ellison is the son of Musk friend Larry Ellison.
“I do worry about the storm clouds on the horizon”
In short
Musk attacked the film publicly and threatened to sue, but never took up the director's repeated offers to respond on the record.
