'Musk' documentary teaser highlights 'cruel and selfish' view of Elon Musk

Bleecker Street has released a teaser for Alex Gibney’s documentary Musk, which examines Elon Musk’s public image, business career and approach to his various companies and ventures.

The teaser features contrasting assessments of Musk, beginning with praise from one voice describing him as “the greatest capitalist in history!”

Other contributors then offer different views, with one calling him “chaotic, random, capricious,” while another says, “He is manifestly cruel and selfish.” A further voice adds, “In a science fiction novel, he would not be a hero.”

The documentary, which runs for just under four hours, is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday before travelling to the Toronto Film Festival.

Gibney and Musk have previously exchanged comments on X, with Musk referring to the director as a “douche.” Gibney responded, “Douché.”

Gibney is known for documentaries including Taxi to the Dark Side, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine and Zero Days.

In 2024, Gibney discussed his approach to making the documentary during an appearance on Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast. He described Musk as “a larger-than-life figure” and said the film was intended to explore aspects of Musk that audiences might not expect.

“He is a larger-than-life figure,” he said of Musk. “People have their opinions about him, but I think 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, which is what I'd say we are finding that I think will be surprising for folks.”

Gibney added that he was not interested in presenting a simple judgement of Musk, saying, “I'm not really interested in that kind of formula, douche or not.”

Musk is scheduled to receive a theatrical release from Bleecker Street on October 16. HBO will subsequently debut the documentary on premium cable and HBO Max.