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Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney has questioned the “accomplishments” of Elon Musk, likely intensifying an ongoing feud with the subject of his latest documentary.
Gibney, 72, was at the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada for the premiere of Musk, his nearly four-hour documentary examining the life, businesses, and political influence of the world’s richest man, when he was asked if he would prefer to live in “a world without the accomplishments of Elon Musk”.
“I kind of question the phrase, ‘the accomplishments of Elon Musk,’” Gibney responded, drawing applause from the audience, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“Tesla was not founded by Elon Musk. He wasn’t the key inventor,” he continued. “SpaceX also was founded by a lot of powerful and important engineers.”
He was referring to Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, who founded Tesla Motors in July 2003. Musk joined the company in 2004 as its largest early investor and became chairman of the board. A legal settlement later allowed Musk, Eberhard, Tarpenning, and two other people involved with the company to use the title of co-founder.
Zoë Schiffer, Alex Gibney, and Ashley St Clair attend the “Musk” screening at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival (Getty)
Gibney interviewed Eberhard, Tesla’s former chief executive, for the documentary, which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, before screening at the Scotiabank Theatre on Monday.
“He did build these two potent companies. One of the reasons he did so was because he imbued them with a sense of ambition. That attracted a lot of talented engineers to both companies,” Gibney said of Musk.
“Nobody talks about the engineers and the people who run and actually do the work at those companies,” he said.
“It’s all Elon Musk. I think it’s important we recognise that these are companies.”
The Independent contacted representatives for Musk for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Alex Gibney’s film takes a critical look at Elon Musk’s rise from his childhood in South Africa through his business ventures and his acquisition of X as well as his growing political influence in the US (AFP/Getty)
Musk, which was in the works for almost four years, was one of the more contentious documentaries at this year’s festival. It takes a critical look at the 55-year-old billionaire’s rise from his childhood in South Africa through his business ventures and his acquisition of X as well as his growing political influence in the US.
Gibney was unable to speak with Musk directly and relied on interviews with former colleagues and people close to him, including his first wife Justine Musk, former partner Ashley St Clair, father Errol Musk, and Eberhard.
The film uses a photorealistic computer-generated avatar of Musk to recreate his public statements.
The Guardian called it an “absorbing documentary”, while Variety described it as a “lacerating portrait” of Musk’s power and ambition.
Musk reacted furiously to the documentary, attacking Gibney in a series of posts on X after its Venice premiere. He called Musk a “hit piece that misses” and said it committed the “fatal sin of being boring for four hours”, while describing Gibney as a “bitter old man who lost the plot long ago”.
Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro sent a letter to Gibney’s production company disputing an allegation involving Musk’s Starlink satellites and the 2024 US presidential election, saying the filmmakers had been put “on notice” that the insinuation was false.
Gibney addressed the letter at the film festival, saying that Musk had “threatened to sue us”. “That should give you some sense of how much, at least so far, the free speech absolutist is encouraging speech that he doesn’t like,” he said.
Musk was originally scheduled to release in cinemas on 16 October. It will now open in New York and Los Angeles on 9 October before expanding nationwide.