From Scientology to Elizabeth Holmes, the former CEO of the notorious Theranos, documentary director Alex Gibney never shies away from subjects that are large in scale or highly controversial.
Then, Elon Musk appeared.
In 2022, when someone approached Gibney to produce a documentary about Tesla and the CEO of SpaceX, his plan was straightforward: to tell the story of how Musk used his company to become one of the most powerful figures in the world.
But two years later, when he was ready to present a two-hour feature film about Musk, his production company gave him an instruction that few filmmakers would hear: to make it even longer.
That was in 2024, when Elon Musk's influence had extended into the political realm. As this individual helped President Donald Trump campaign for a second term and later took charge of Trump's second-term administration's "Department of Government Efficiency" ( Department of Government Efficiency ), Gibney's story also expanded accordingly. His documentaries had to follow suit.
The final product is " Musk ", a nearly 4-hour documentary that is sharp and thorough, documenting the personal, professional, and political life of this world's richest man. From his controversial acquisition of Twitter and its renaming to X, to his relationships with the mothers of his children, to the accidents related to Tesla's autonomous driving features, Gibney's film provides a comprehensive look at Musk's power and influence in the 21st century.
Since Musk refused to give interviews, Gibney even found a clever workaround to have Musk appear in the film. Borrowing Musk's belief that "we all live in a simulation," the director used AI to create an avatar of Musk who spoke with statements pieced together from his past interviews.
Of course, people like Musk, who are both powerful and outspoken, have expressed their dissatisfaction with others controlling their narrative. After the film premiered globally at the Venice Film Festival in September this year, Musk threatened to sue Gibney's production company on charges of defamation. Musk also criticized the film on X, saying, "Gibney just put together a hit list of people who either hold a grudge against me or don't know me at all (but still hold a grudge against me). He has no integrity at all. A terrible person."
Gibney told Business Insider, "When it comes to Elon Musk – he’s not unique in this regard, but he’s particularly adept at it – he would first tweet that someone else is terrible, and then you’d see an army of followers and robots start inciting this machine of anger."
However, at least for now, he has not wavered because of this. For decades, Gibney has been telling the truth about power through documentaries, which has given him a thick skin and also allowed him to develop some highly confidential strategies for dealing with harassment.
He said, "Let's put it this way, I took some preventive measures."
About creating the AI Elon Musk avatar, and why to make the movie longer
Business Insider: You probably thought you had finished this film by 2024. When HBO asks you to return to Elon Musk’s “rabbit hole” again, don’t you feel a lot of pressure?
Alex Gibney: Yes, the pressure is immense. We had to renegotiate the budget and various other matters. But I understand why HBO made that request. When Musk and Trump join forces, it becomes clear that this is a big deal.
What I initially filmed was a movie about power in the 21st century, which involved economic power and also technological power. Now, with political power added to the mix, suddenly, it has become a very big story.
Business Insider: Was AI Musk already in the initial version of the movie?
Gibney: I had that idea. We released a placeholder version at the time, but we also expected that we might be able to interview him at some point.
Later, using this approach turned out to be a sort of sudden inspiration. It stemmed from past experience: if someone is unwilling or unable to talk to you, how can you adapt? In “Client 9” and “Zero Days”, we both came up with suitable adaptations for those situations. The key is to find an adaptation that fits the particular story. In the end, we came up with the idea of assuming a different identity.
Business Insider: Has this experience given you new ideas for using AI in your future works?
Gibney: I think it depends on the project. “AI” has now become a term that encompasses everything; from “Siri” to “AGI”, all are included within it. This time, it’s essentially work led by humans, using “AI” tools to complete, mainly focusing on synchronous processing; in other words, it’s about making the lips and body movements roughly match the sound. Of course, that also includes designing the room, what he wears, and that gaming chair.
As our collaboration with the company Makemake A.I. deepens and our interest in AI grows, we were inspired by the concept of "meme" and how it relates to one's self-perception. This led us to envision several scenarios: you might see the back of his head while he looks at himself. All of these ideas came about spontaneously from our creativity.
Business Insider: While watching “Musk”, I couldn’t help but think of your documentary on Elizabeth Holmes, “The Inventor”. That Silicon Valley approach of “first pretending, then actually doing it”… Have you always found that quite noteworthy? Both Holmes and Musk are very adept at promoting themselves as entrepreneurs; they both hope that what they’re betting on will ultimately succeed.
Gibney: I think there are indeed similarities between him and Elizabeth Holmes. While making this film, the word “confidence” kept running through my mind. Like Holmes, Musk is able to convince people to believe in things that they know are not true, all thanks to his strong confidence. It has become a kind of superpower for him.
The biggest difference between Tesla and SpaceX and Elizabeth Holmes is that those are real products. Tesla S is a great car. These reusable rockets are incredible, and we also showcased that spectacularity in the video.
It's not that I want to deny him or these companies, but there is also a lot of "nonsense" involved. For example, the idea of going to Mars, as well as those promises. You'll see these claims being repeated over and over again, and they get bigger and bigger with each repetition. Oh, right, fully autonomous driving! Sorry, but Tesla's autonomous driving option is still only at level two, and more than 60 people have already died due to it.
(Editor's note: Tesla has consistently stated that its Autopilot feature requires the driver to maintain constant attention, and the vehicle will issue prompts to warn the driver to remain alert and keep their hand on the steering wheel.)
Business Insider: You mentioned in the film that Musk was involved with DOGE and implied that he influenced the election, which is quite shocking. However, what touched me the most was your portrayal of Tesla. Battery swapping, autonomous driving features. Are you surprised by how much "smoke and mirrors" there are in Tesla's approach?
Gibney: Yes. That's something I didn't know when I started filming. Just like you said, “First, pretend it exists, then make it exist.” That's exactly what they did. Most of the time, it's done to drive up stock prices. The company's financial fundamentals are never sufficient to support such high stock prices, but if you can convince people that this CEO is a genius, and at the same time make them believe that this is not just an automobile company, but also a technology company with future super-inventions on the horizon, then you can persuade people to push up the stock price.
(Note from the editor: Elon Musk and Tesla have not responded to requests for comments.)
Almost hit a child while using autonomous driving on Cybertruck
Business Insider: You've also ridden in autonomous vehicles yourself; you did so for this movie, and moreover, you rode in a Cybertruck.
Gibney: Yes. There was a version where we included a 4-minute clip of me sitting inside the Cybertruck. I went to Tesla's showroom in San Francisco, wanting to drive a Cybertruck, and they demonstrated to me how to activate the autonomous driving feature. I pressed the “Go” button, and then I drove all the way to the other side of the city. It took about 20 minutes round-trip.
Interestingly, for most of the journey, its performance was astonishingly good. However, there were also some moments when its performance was incredibly poor, sometimes even under the guise of “safety.” For example, when I wanted to merge onto a very busy main road with constant traffic flow, if I were driving myself, I would have just slightly adjusted my position, but the fully autonomous system couldn’t handle it, so I sat there for 10 minutes. There were also other times when it couldn’t make a decision at critical moments and almost hit pedestrians.
It was so close to a child that it was really unsettling. The child seemed to have suddenly appeared next to a parked car. It's not something you would expect, and it was truly frightening.
Business Insider: Why didn’t you include this part in the movie?
Gibney: In the end, the legal case that we focus on in the film is a more in-depth exploration with greater impact. There are fatal consequences involved. A woman died. And the in-depth analysis of the evidence itself is much more compelling. If I were making a film solely about Tesla, I would probably include that aspect as well.
Regarding the fate of the film in HBO, and the cost of examining power
Business Insider: The biggest irony of this is that the film could have been released about a year ago, but HBO demanded that it be made longer. Now that Paramount and Warner Bros. have merged, HBO is under the control of David Ellison, who once considered having Elon Musk join as an equity investor in Paramount. Are you worried that HBO won’t release Musk?
Gibney: Until recently, I was very worried. I remained vigilant at all times. But I was told that they would broadcast it, and David Ellison was also aware of this and promised to proceed with the broadcast.
Business Insider: You have been cooperating with HBO for many years.
Gibney: Yes, I really like them.
Business Insider: So if they tell you that this will happen, you would believe them.
Gibney: But what you learn is that anything can happen.[Laughter] Executives will change, the environment will change, and then you'll realize that things aren't as you thought they were. However, at present, we are planning the release date in very specific terms, and it's very likely to be in January.
Business Insider: Considering the industry's development trend—fewer networks and distribution channels, and most of the existing options are controlled by large conglomerates, which often seek political cooperation—do you, for stories like the ones you've shared, consider finding alternative distribution pathways through your company Jigsaw in the future?
Gibney: We have a secret project team within Jigsaw that is trying to resolve some of the issuance issues.
In this new environment, the movies that people really want to watch are being kept out of reach of the audience. Platforms tell us that people don’t want to watch these movies, but that’s not true at all. HBO is an exception, but many platforms nowadays prefer to invest in predictable content that is least likely to cause controversy. Many platforms try to make their content look like the shelves in a supermarket: it seems to offer a variety of products, but in reality, it’s just various variations of Rice Krispies and Froot Loops. They can reliably keep people addicted to that mixture of salt and sugar, making them come back again and again, without providing anything truly nutritious.
So the way out is through the cinema theaters, just as it was more than a decade ago. “Musk” is now being screened in cinemas through “Bleecker Street”, and that’s very powerful, because once something has been released, it’s much harder to put the “spirits” back into the bottle.
“Business Insider”: Examining power can sometimes backfire. You’ve gone through a lot, from Julian Assange leaking the script before the release of “We Steal Secrets” to Scientologist followers stalking you after you finished shooting “Going Clear”. Do these experiences exhaust you, or do they inspire you?
Gibney: What I mean is, considering that I haven’t stopped at all, it seems as if these things are more of a motivation for me. That being said, it doesn’t mean I don’t need to take preventive measures. But I am still driven by the thought that those who hold great power are abusing their power at our expense; that has always been a driving force for me.
When it comes to Elon Musk, he is one of the richest and most powerful people in the world, which can potentially lead to devastating consequences. Ashley St. Claire needs security because the X platform has a way of directing malice towards individuals. Elon might argue that this is just freedom of speech, but he is well aware that through his own actions, as well as the platform's algorithmic adjustments that fuel replies and anger addiction, his statements can be amplified in a very negative way and may cause harm to individuals.
(Editor's note: Musk has described himself as a "free speech absolutist" and in 2022 described X's policy as "freedom of speech, not freedom of access," stating that the company would limit the reach of negative posts but would not delete them. Musk did not respond to requests for comment regarding his posts on X or issues related to the company's algorithm.)
Business Insider: Is your experience dealing with Musk's followers any different from when you faced Scientology back in the day?
Gibney: Scientology is a bit different, but indeed, there are people who approach me in dark parking lots, which is quite uncomfortable. However, some former Scientologist members told me, “They’re not going to put a rattlesnake in your email; they want to get into your brain. So once you understand that, don’t let them get into your brain.” It turns out that this is very wise advice.
That Scientology experience was very difficult, and when the movie I made about Assange was released, the hostility on Twitter was extremely intense; I wasn’t prepared for it at that time. One thing I learned later on is: you must understand your enemies.
This interview has been compressed and edited to ensure clear presentation.
Musk is currently being shown in theaters.
