Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary goes for the jugular in these 3 scenes

In an age where documentaries about famous people can be that so light and sweet like the snacks you eat while watching it, Alex Gibbney goes against the flow. Are new documentary, ‘Musk’, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 8, proves that there’s still room for hard-hitting investigative documentation in Hollywood – as long as you’re willing to sit through its nearly four-hour running time.

From tackling Scientology in ‘Going Clear’ Unpleasant Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes in ‘The Inventor’ Gibney has never shied away from a touchy subject. With ‘Musk’, the Oscar-winning filmmaker pulls no punches and paints a thorough portrait of the man who changed companies Tesla and SpaceX in well-known names.

The document, which chronicles Musk’s life from a 20-something in Silicon Valley to President Donald Trump’s right-hand man during his second term, has fueled the subject’s ire since it was announced in 2023. Musk called the film a ‘hit piece’ to X, to which Gibney replied, “How would you know?” Since then, the two have been embroiled in an online battle.

Although Musk didn’t sit down for an interview for “Musk,” that didn’t stop Gibney from getting his subject in front of the camera — sort of.

Thanks to the ingenuity of Gibney’s team and the magic of AI, the documentary features a Musk avatar trained in every available interview the mogul has given. Avatar-Musk drops by to comment on everything from why he believes we’re all living in a simulation to his obsession with going to Mars.

It’s a brazen deployment of emerging technology at the CEO’s expense. But it’s not the only segment that portrays Musk in an unflattering light.

Business Insider screened “Musk” the day it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Here are three times Gibney goes hard after Musk.

Business Insider reached out to Musk for comment on the documentary but did not receive a response.

The failures of Tesla’s Autopilot self-driving feature are back in the spotlight

The documentary explores how Musk got involved with Tesla and turned it into a cash cow when the company went public. It also explores the dark side of Tesla’s Autopilot, a self-driving feature that does was the focus of several lawsuits.

In the document, Gibney contrasts a video from 2016 released by Tesla depicting the vehicle as fully self-driving with dashcam footage of a fatal 2019 crash in which a car using Tesla’s Autopilot feature killed one and seriously injured another in Key Largo, Florida.

After a Russian hacker was able to retrieve key crash data that Tesla said it did not have access to (yes, really), a jury found Tesla partially liable for the crash and responsible for $243 million in punitive and compensatory damages. Tesla is attractive.

Although the story has been previously reported by Business Insider and others, retelling it to a wider audience in Gibney’s doc will not improve the perception of the Tesla brand.

The ‘Godfather of AI’ says he fears Musk could manipulate elections

Trump and Musk do DOGE described as a way to overhaul the federal government and reduce spending. Tech reporters from Wired and The Wall Street Journal tell Gibney that Musk’s time working on DOGE also gave him access to the personal information of every American.

Geoffrey Hinton, the ‘godfather of AI’ and a friend turned enemy of Musk says he thinks Musk is up to something nefarious. He tells Gibney in the documentary that he believes Musk will use that information to corrupt the upcoming midterm elections.

“If you wanted to corrupt the midterm elections and use AI, all you had to do was get detailed information about American citizens,” Hinton says in “Musk.” “And what DOGE did was exactly like what you would do.”

Hinton doesn’t elaborate, but Gibney asks in a voiceover: Is Musk “trying to connect or control us?”

A Former Flame Reveals the NDA Terms She Refused and Musk’s Desire for a ‘Legion of Children’

The documentary also delves into Musk’s personal life, particularly his many children, fourteen of whom are publicly known. While Musk’s first wife, Justine, appears in the documentary, the real star is influencer Ashley St. Clair, who gave birth to one of his sons in 2024.

St. Clair says in the document that the two came into contact after Musk started following her on social media and sent her a message saying she should have more children. St. Clair says in the document that once their relationship soured and after the birth of Musk’s child, she was offered $15 million upfront and $100,000 per month. more than 21 years if she signed a non-disclosure agreement. She refused.

St. Clair also recalled being in bed with Musk one night and he was listening to a podcast about Kublai Khan, a descendant of Genghis Khan who had at least 47 children.

She also said Musk once texted her that he needed “a legion of kids before the Civil War.”

St. Clair claims she wasn’t the only one Musk contacted on social media in hopes of procreating.

It’s a “Gatling gun with cum on his DMs,” she told Gibney.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment on the documentary. But on Tuesday, when former DOGE communications director Katie Miller called the documentary “fictional” and “a bull’s-eye from a self-obsessed Hollywood director,” Musk responded with one word: “Exactly.”

“Musk” hits theaters on October 16.