Elon Musk has launched a fierce public attack on filmmaker Alex Gibney over a new four-hour documentary about the tech mogul that premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Musk dismissed the critical film as a boring hit piece, while his attorney issued a formal legal threat to the production.
The nearly four-hour documentary about the life and influence of the world’s richest man premiered at the Venice film festival, drawing an initial five-minute standing ovation alongside immediate controversy. Directed by Alex Gibney—who has previously made films about the collapse of Enron, WikiLeaks and Vladimir Putin—the project portrays the tech titan as an unchecked and dangerous force. Speaking at a press conference in Venice, Gibney described encountering a “sense of fear” among people he approached over his film.
Elon Musk and Attorney Alex Spiro Push Back With Legal Notice and Social Media Tirades
Musk took to X—the platform he bought for $44bn in 2022—to unleash a series of angry posts attacking the director. Labeling Gibney a bitter old man who has zero integrity, Musk complained that the documentary made the fatal sin of being boring for 4 hours. In addition to Musk’s public commentary, his attorney Alex Spiro sent a formal letter to Jigsaw Productions on Sept. 3, accusing the filmmakers of misrepresenting facts and warning of potential legal action. As a workaround since Musk refused to participate, Gibney uses an animated avatar to portray Musk, with the avatar quoting statements that Musk has actually said.
“Gibney has zero integrity. Zero. Fortunately, his movies are boring af … It’s a hit piece that misses, and makes the fatal sin of being boring for 4 hours.”
Elon Musk
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Spiro’s letter centers on what Spiro says is an insinuation in the film that Musk used his Starlink satellites to somehow influence the 2024 presidential election to boost Donald Trump. Spiro noted that Starlink was not connected to vote tabulation, and that election officials in multiple states, independent cybersecurity researchers, and fact-checkers publicly refuted the Starlink vote-rigging claim in November 2024, and nothing since has revived it.
Disputed Claims and Production Controversies at the Venice Film Festival
The documentary also features claims from individuals connected to Musk, including his former partner, the former Maga influencer Ashley St Clair. St Clair claims in the film that Musk told her before the election that he was going to unleash the anomaly in the matrix,
and that he has 10,000 lasers in space,
alongside an allegation that Musk’s team offered her $40m to sign a non-disclosure agreement about their time together. Musk strongly denied the assertion on X, writing that she was never offered that and has a history of making false claims.
Spiro’s legal letter additionally criticized the production for “not engaging” with Musk’s team during fact-checking, noting that they attempted to contact the production multiple times. Jigsaw Productions defended the project in a statement, emphasizing that Alex Gibney’s films are consistently recognized for their in-depth, fact-driven explorations of influential figures and corporations, coupled with his bold and engaging directorial style, and noting that the right to engage in open debate and fact-based examinations of powerful public figures is protected by the first amendment.
Differing Critical Receptions and Future Release Plans
While Musk and his allies have sharply condemned the documentary—with podcaster Katie Miller, the wife of Donald Trump’s powerful adviser Stephen Miller and former communications director for Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, complaining about the alleged absence of Musk acquaintances and allies in the film—early critical reception has been striking. The Hollywood Reporter review characterized the project as a poleaxing portrait of the tech titan as a con man given way too much power to be stopped
that will leave you simmering in outrage for 225 minutes.
The film currently sits at 100 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes among its first 12 reviews, and the film will be released in select theaters on Friday, Oct. 16.
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