A new trailer for Alex Gibney’s feature documentary Musk presents a sweeping, critical portrait of the world’s richest man, prompting denunciations from Musk as a “hit piece” and threats of defamation litigation. Gibney, an Oscar-winning documentarian known for probing Enron, Scientology, and other high-profile scandals, premiered the nearly four-hour film at Venice; critics responded positively despite its 3 hour 45 minute runtime. Rumors that Universal might balk at an international theatrical run proved premature: a U.S. release is set for October 9, with international rollouts and HBO streaming planned for early 2027. Gibney filmed without Musk’s participation and instead uses an AI-generated rendition of Musk speaking verbatim public quotes, a creative choice likely to spark further controversy.
Substantively, the film stitches together well-known incidents and voices to interrogate patterns of behavior and accountability: Tesla’s driver-assistance-related fatalities, SpaceX achievements, the Twitter purchase, Dogecoin episodes, Musk’s large family, and other personal and corporate controversies. Interviewees featured in the trailer include ex-wife Justine Musk, tech journalists Kara Swisher and Zoe Schiffer, engineers Martin Eberhard and Geoffrey Hinton, MAGA-affiliated former partner Ashley St. Clair, plus commentators like Cory Doctorow and physicist Adam Becker. An original David Byrne song, “Let Me Sell You a Dream,” repurposes Musk’s words, underlining Gibney’s thesis that charisma, risk-taking, and media-savvy mythmaking have reshaped tech power and public accountability.
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