Elon Musk, as well as being one of the richest men on the planet, is also one of the most controversial. Barely a week goes by where he doesn't take time out of what must be an extremely packed working day to start beef on Twitter, which he now happens to own.
Is it just an expensive distraction from the no-doubt stressful business of colonising mars and building self-driving cars? Or is he genuinely compelled by the free speech principles he so often espouses? It all adds to the highly complex public picture of Musk. Now, a new documentary hopes to dig beneath the surface and find out who the 51-year-old actually is: an unconventional agent for global good, or an agent of self-serving chaos?
Directed by Alex Gibney, who helmed the revelatory Scientology doc Going Clear amongst other acclaimed projects, Musk is set to lift the lid on the man behind the headlines and shitposts. Here’s what we know so far:
What’s the big idea?
According to Variety, Musk has been described as “a definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.” Gibney said he was “hugely excited” about tackling Musk on film.
Equally excited are Closer Media, who are working on the film. “Now is the moment for a rigorous portrait of Elon Musk, who is undeniably one of the most influential figures of our time,” said founder Zhang Xin. “Closer Media is thrilled to join forces with Alex Gibney, Anonymous Content, and Double Agent to take on the challenge of examining Musk and his impact on the world.”
What will it cover?
There's a lot of ground to cover. The son of an emerald mine owner in South Africa, he famously dropped out of Stanford university to start his own software company. The documentary will likely track his success from that point, leading to the creation of SpaceX and his journey to becoming the chairman of Tesla. Along the way, he's amassed one of the biggest piles of money in the world. Then came the bid for Twitter.
Following a legally wrought process – Musk later tried to pull out of the $43 billion deal – Musk eventually took over as CEO, quickly laying off a large percentage of the staff, loosening content moderation and implementing a monthly charge for blue ticks. This has not gone down well.
He's been embroiled in multiple media scandals over the years, from branding a Thai Cave rescuer a “pedo guy” (Musk later won a defamation case brought by the caver Vernon Unsworth) through to comparing Justin Trudeau to Hitler, or spreading misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic (“Kids are essentially immune”).
He’s also found time to have had two children with the musician Grimes (called X AE A-XII and Exa Dark Sideræl) and release some music, namely a rap track called RIP Harambe and an EDM track called Don’t Doubt Ur Vibe. So, yeah, there’s a lot to pick through.
What does Musk think about it all?
Musk himself has been uncharacteristically quiet about the film so far, with no long online rants. He did reply “It’s a hit piece” to a Twitter user mentioning the documentary. Gibney then responded, asking (quite fairly, as they are just a few months into production): “How would you know?”
Is there a trailer? Or release date?
Nothing for the foreseeable, but we’ll update here when we know more. The question is, will Gibney be able to post the trailer on Twitter, or will he find it mysteriously disappearing with each subsequent repost?
