Musk
The Facts
- Overview: "Musk" is a documentary directed by Oscar winner Alex Gibney. The three hour and 45 minute film, set for theatrical release on Oct. 16, premiered at the 2026 Venice Film Festival and traces Elon Musk's life from his early business ventures through his role in the Trump administration. Musk did not participate, so Gibney instead featured a computer-generated avatar that recites statements Musk has made publicly. The documentary also uses clips from the 1937 movie "The Man Who Could Work Miracles" to frame its narrative.
- Context: Gibney began the project in 2023, initially planning a narrower film, but expanded the project after Musk became involved in U.S. President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign and later led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk called the documentary a "hit piece" on social media and accused Gibney of "fabricating a false film," before threatening legal action. Musk's lawyer also claimed Gibney refused to fact-check the film with Musk's team.
- Director's Claims: Gibney's film portrays Musk as a "confidence man" whose wealth stems from inflated stock rather than genuine engineering achievement, arguing that Musk did not actually found Tesla despite claiming the title. The documentary states Musk had little formal engineering education and that early ventures like Zip2 did not generate operational profit despite large payouts. Lawrence Fossi, a Musk critic featured in the film, described investing in Musk's companies as "investing in a religion" rather than a bet on corporate America.
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The Spin
Left narrative
"Musk" is a lacerating portrait — nearly four hours tracking how one man amassed unprecedented power, and why the world let him. Gibney opens with images of the Earth exploding, returning to that vision again and again, in what is a warning as much as a biography. The film builds its case methodically: a confidence man who deceives, gaslights and fabricates to get what he wants, growing only more dangerous as his influence swells. Built without Musk's participation, using his own words against him, the film lands its verdict clearly; Musk's influence isn't just powerful, but terrifying.
Right narrative
Gibney is right to call Elon Musk "extremely dangerous" in his new documentary — Musk is dangerous to the woke machine, to bureaucrats, to fraudsters and to censorship regimes on both sides of the Atlantic. He's dangerous to legacy media gatekeepers, political propagandists and elites who'd prefer ordinary people stay quiet. Gibney's mistake in this hit piece is framing Musk, an undeniably successful businessman and industrialist, as a threat to democracy, when he is truly a threat to the establishment.
Cynical narrative
"Musk" spends nearly four hours telling a story many viewers already know, preaching to the choir rather than persuading Musk's remaining admirers to think differently. Its exhaustive research fills in the chronology, but limited access leaves few genuine bombshells, making the film feel more like a comprehensive summary of how Musk amassed power than a revelation about the man himself. Though impressive in scale, this documentary falls short of being able to influence audiences' thinking.
