Alex Gibney's Documentary 'Musk' Debuts at Venice Film Festival
The four-hour documentary 'Musk' by Alex Gibney premiered at the Venice Film Festival, offering a critical look at Elon Musk and slated for theatrical release in October.
Bleecker Street released a teaser for Alex Gibney’s documentary Musk, which premiered on Tuesday at the Venice Film Festival. The film, running just under four hours, presents a mixed view of Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, Tesla, Starlink and owner of X. The trailer juxtaposes praise from supporters with critical commentary from observers, describing Musk as chaotic, capricious and, in one voice, “manifestly cruel and selfish.”
Musk responded to the project on the X platform, calling the director a “douche,” to which Gibney replied with a tongue-in-cheek retort. Gibney, an Oscar-winning documentarian known for works such as Taxi to the Dark Side and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, said the film aims to reveal aspects of Musk that are “hiding in plain sight” rather than simply casting him as a hero or villain.
The documentary will continue its festival circuit at the Toronto Film Festival before a theatrical rollout on October 16, followed by a premiere on HBO and HBO Max. It is expected to be a contender for awards season.
“He is a larger-than-life figure. People have their opinions about him, but the challenge is to bring something that people don’t expect to find, something in the material that’s hiding, some stuff that’s hiding in plain sight,” Gibney told Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast.
The film is produced by Jigsaw Productions, which was acquired by philanthropist Wendy Schmidt in 2025.