A four-hour Elon Musk documentary from director Alex Gibney just premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and it is already sparking a massive debate online. The film, simply titled Musk, splits his story into two chapters: the pre-COVID climb through Zip2, PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla, and the post-2020 era where he became one of the loudest and most controversial voices on the internet. It heads to Toronto next before opening in U.S. theaters on October 16.
The most talked-about claim is that Musk never actually changed. His ex-wife Justine Musk says the man the public saw in 2020 was the man she always knew, and conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair describes a two-year relationship, alleging Musk cut her child support by sixty percent after she criticized him. Musk himself never sat for an interview with Gibney. Instead, he appears through archival footage and an A.I.-enhanced avatar, a choice that has people split between calling it genius and calling it weird.
The film’s bigger argument is that Musk is a symptom of a culture that worships founders and tolerates extreme wealth inequality, not some one-off aberration. That framing is what makes the documentary more than just a celebrity takedown. So what do you think: did the pandemic change Elon Musk, or did it just reveal who he already was?
About the Author
Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.