What began with a nearly four-hour documentary winning a five-minute standing ovation at Venice has quickly turned into a legal battle between Elon Musk and Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney.
Musk traces the billionaire’s journey from the dotcom boom, PayPal and Tesla to SpaceX, his $44-billion acquisition of Twitter, now X, and his growing political influence.
The project, begun in 2023 as a shorter film, expanded as Musk became increasingly involved with Donald Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and US politics.
It also examines his support for right-wing causes internationally and asks whether absolute power changes people or reveals who they already were.
“I hope it’s the beginning of the discussion for all of us… to begin to take back power from these tech oligarchs,” Gibney said.
Musk declined interview requests. The film instead features his father Errol Musk, Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, former wife Justine Musk, journalists Kara Swisher and Zoë Schiffer, and former partner Ashley St Clair.
Gibney’s team also created an AI-generated Musk avatar using his public statements. But after Venice, the gloves came off.
Musk called the documentary a “hit piece” and attacked Gibney publicly. His lawyer Alex Spiro sent Jigsaw Productions a September 3 letter accusing the filmmakers of defamation and of building the film around a predetermined conclusion.
The dispute centres partly on the documentary’s suggestion that Musk’s Starlink network could have been used to influence the 2024 US election, a claim his lawyer says is false.
Gibney has defended the film, saying Musk repeatedly declined to participate and that the documentary underwent extensive fact-checking and legal review. The film now heads to Toronto amid the escalating controversy.
