A Four-Hour Film Takes Aim At Musk

Man in suit smiling, resting chin on hand.

A nearly four-hour documentary calling the world’s richest man “chaotic, capricious” and “manifestly cruel and selfish” just had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Quick Take

Director Alex Gibney’s documentary “Musk” premiered out of competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2026.
The teaser trailer swings from calling Elon Musk “possibly the greatest living inventor” to describing him as a man who “has lost his mind.”
Bleecker Street will release the film in theaters October 16, with an HBO version arriving in 2027.
Musk has already called the project “a hit piece” before its release.

A Premiere Built For Controversy

Gibney’s film, simply titled “Musk,” debuted at Venice on September 8, screening out of competition alongside other high-profile nonfiction work at the festival. The documentary runs close to four hours, with festival cuts reported between 232 and 235 minutes depending on the version shown. Rotten Tomatoes lists a theatrical runtime of three hours and 55 minutes, underscoring just how sprawling Gibney’s portrait of Musk really is.

Bleecker Street, the film’s distributor, released the first teaser on September 7, one day ahead of the Venice screening. The clip opens with admirers praising Musk before pivoting hard into criticism, a structure Deadline described as anything but a flattering portrait of the Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and X owner.

What The Trailer Actually Says

The teaser leans on stark contrast rather than subtlety. One voice calls Musk “possibly the greatest living inventor,” while another brands him “a man who has lost his mind,” according to People’s report on the footage. Variety’s coverage of the same trailer noted it directly raises the question of whether Musk should be understood as a fascist or something else entirely, a framing choice that sets the tone for the entire film.

Gibney, an Oscar-winning documentarian known for tackling powerful institutions and individuals, spent years assembling the project before finishing it in time for Venice and the Toronto International Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter’s coverage included a quote from someone who worked closely with Musk, describing him as “the most miserable man I’ve ever met” and suggesting he spreads that unhappiness outward. That line captures the psychological angle Gibney appears to be pursuing throughout the runtime.

Distribution, Timeline, And Musk’s Own Response

Bleecker Street confirmed the film will open in American theaters on October 16, following its festival run through Venice and Toronto. HBO has a longer four-hour cut scheduled for 2027, giving audiences a second, more extended version of Gibney’s portrait down the road. The Guardian’s early lineup coverage from July described Musk as a “rightwing agitator” in its framing of the festival slate, signaling how the documentary was being positioned months before anyone saw a frame of footage.

Musk has not stayed silent. Reporting from Yahoo Entertainment notes he called the documentary “a hit piece” ahead of its premiere, rejecting the film’s framing before it ever reached a Venice screen. That reaction fits a familiar script for powerful subjects of unauthorized or unflattering documentaries, who frequently object to editorial choices long before general audiences get a chance to judge the finished product for themselves.

Alex Gibney’s Musk teaser is here.

The documentary puts Elon Musk’s extraordinary achievements alongside the controversies surrounding his character and influence.

The 225-minute film premieres at Venice before heading to TIFF.https://t.co/EN5kud0yPs #Musk #ElonMusk… pic.twitter.com/iOp9lBsixr

— Planet of Films (@planetoffilms) September 8, 2026

The Bigger Legal Backdrop For Documentaries Like This

Films that mix praise and condemnation about public figures sit inside a well-established legal framework. Because Musk qualifies as a public figure under American law, any defamation claim he might bring would require proving “actual malice,” meaning the filmmakers knew a statement was false or recklessly ignored the truth. That standard, set by the Supreme Court decades ago, makes successful lawsuits from billionaires and politicians against documentary filmmakers extremely difficult to win.

Media analysts tracking recent documentary disputes note the fights increasingly center on overall impression built through editing and sequencing, not just individual false statements. Gibney’s trailer, with its whiplash shift from praise to condemnation, fits that exact pattern. Whether Musk pursues any formal legal challenge or simply continues criticizing the film publicly, the documentary’s blunt framing guarantees the debate over its fairness will follow it from Venice all the way to its October theatrical release.