Alex Gibney’s long-gestating documentary about tech mogul Elon Musk is finally heading to the Venice International Film Festival for its world premiere. The documentary, titled simply “Musk,” arrives with a massive, nearly four-hour runtime.
Musk, who has been outspoken in his criticism of films like Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” previously dismissed the documentary as a “hit piece.”
Alex Gibney’s documentary on Elon Musk will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September. The 232-minute feature was unveiled as part of the festival’s official lineup by artistic director Alberto Barbera in Rome on Thursday.
During the announcement, Barbera paused to emphasize the film’s extraordinary runtime, reflecting just how much of the controversial tech billionaire’s story is packed into the documentary.
“I invite you to look at the duration of the movie — four hours,” Barbera said, per The Hollywood Reporter.
“[Gibney] traces the whole career — the contradictions, and the conditioning power that is centralized in the hands of a single man,” he added. “Consider a genius of capitalist entrepreneurship, but also a dangerous technocrat, with no moral scruples.”
Why The ‘Musk’ Documentary Took So Long To Finish
First announced in March 2023 as a “definitive and unvarnished examination” of the billionaire entrepreneur, the film endured an extended production timeline as Musk’s influence and public profile continued to grow.
Gibney reportedly completed an initial cut in early 2025 but later returned to the editing room to incorporate major developments, including Musk’s political alignment with Donald Trump and his role co-leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As the Tesla chief executive continued generating headline-grabbing controversies, many wondered whether Gibney’s project would ever truly be finished.
Backers HBO Documentary Films and Bleecker Street acknowledged that challenge in a joint statement, noting that “the film continues to grow in scope as the story evolves.”
Elon Musk Branded The Film A ‘Hit Piece’
Musk has publicly expressed skepticism about the project since it was first announced. After news of the documentary broke in 2023, he posted on X that the film was a “hit piece,” prompting a brief exchange with Gibney, who replied: “How would you know?”
The SpaceX founder also once tweeted, “Gibney is a douche,” to which the filmmaker later joked that he responded, “douché.”
Gibney is no stranger to investigative documentaries centered on powerful figures and major corporations. His previous credits include “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” the Scientology exposé “Going Clear,” and “Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine.” He also won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2008 for “Taxi to the Dark Side.”
“Musk” opens in U.S. theaters on October 16, while HBO Documentary Films holds the North American television and streaming rights.
Elon Musk Has Frequently Targeted Hollywood Films
Musk has made a habit of publicly criticizing Hollywood projects he doesn’t support. In the months leading up to the release of Christopher Nolan’s epic “The Odyssey,” he repeatedly mocked the film, claiming the director was more focused on awards than historical accuracy because of his casting choices.
He also criticized Nolan’s decision to cast Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, accusing the filmmaker of “pissing on Homer’s grave” in reference to the legendary author of the epic poem.
In response, Musk announced that his AI platform, Grok Imagine, would create what he described as a “historically accurate” full-length adaptation of the story.
However, Nolan ultimately had the last laugh after “The Odyssey” debuted to more than $264 million worldwide, giving the Oscar-winning director the biggest global opening weekend of his career.
Director Called Musk’s Views On Cinema ‘Worthless’
Musk’s repeated criticism of “The Odyssey” also drew backlash from filmmaker Scott Derrickson, who dismissed the billionaire’s opinions on cinema.
“Clearly @elonmusk doesn’t know sh-t about cinema & he stopped reading in his 20s,” the “Doctor Strange” director wrote in a since-deleted X post. “His opinions on art are worthless.”
Nolan also appeared to brush off the criticism during an interview with The Telegraph, arguing that conversations surrounding the film before its release carried little weight.
“But look, these conversations that happen before people see the film—they’re always irrelevant, because no one having them knows what the film actually is yet,” the acclaimed director said.
