Overview
- The nearly four‑hour documentary premiered at Venice and screened at the Toronto Film Festival to strong reviews and public interest, and Bleecker Street moved the U.S. theatrical opening to October 9 with an HBO Max window planned.
- Director Alex Gibney built the film as a wide‑ranging probe of Elon Musk’s rise and influence across Tesla, SpaceX, X and Starlink to prompt discussion about concentrated tech power.
- Musk declined to participate, so the filmmakers used a photorealistic CGI avatar that speaks lines drawn from Musk’s public statements and say they made repeated formal outreaches that produced no substantive response.
- Attorney Alex Spiro sent a pre‑release letter disputing an insinuation tied to Ashley St. Clair’s texts about an “anomaly” and “lasers,” arguing the film falsely suggests Starlink affected the 2024 election; the dispute is unresolved and Gibney says the film underwent intensive fact‑checking and legal review.
- The film’s release raises practical questions about platform decisions and media control because an HBO Max window is planned while Warner Bros. Discovery faces a takeover by Paramount, and the documentary could fuel renewed public and regulatory focus on billionaires’ political power.