As the US Congress prepares to usher in a Democratic majority, Musk director Alex Gibney wants to know if there will be renewed interest in government investigations into Elon Musk’s business practices.
“Is our political system capable—assuming the Democrats win the House and the Senate—of ignoring the power of money … to hold really tough investigations?” Gibney asked WIRED contributing editor Zoë Schiffer following a screening of Musk at the WIRED World Fair just before many of the major congressional races were called for Democrats.
Gibney’s sweeping documentary highlights United States government agencies’ multiple investigations into Musk, positing that these actions partially motivated Musk’s support for Donald Trump and other Republican candidates in recent years.
On Tuesday, Gibney pointed to the more than $474 million Musk has donated to Republican political groups this election cycle, adding that, “last I looked things weren’t going Elon’s way, particularly in Texas.”
Not long after those remarks, James Talrico was declared the winner of his Senate race and Gina Hinojosa was elected the state’s governor, some of the first Democrats to win a Texas statewide election in more than three decades. Musk, who has enjoyed close relationships with Texas bigwigs for years, donated at least $158 million to super PACs supporting Talrico’s opponent, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton.
Musk “now has such an extraordinary amount of money that dropping $500 million on an election means nothing to him,” Gibney says. However, much of that money is tied up in his companies’ stock. “The question is: What if that stock begins to fall?”
While making Musk, Gibney spoke with tech entrepreneurs, former employees, and, in two particularly damning interviews, Musk’s exes—his first wife, Justine Wilson, and ex-girlfriend, Ashley St. Clair. Musk also features interviews with Schiffer and WIRED global editorial director Katie Drummond.
Musk declined to be interviewed for the film. Instead, Gibney’s team used Musk’s past public comments to create a simulated version, pairing actual quotes with a tanned, chiseled avatar wearing a leather jacket.
On X, Musk has decried the documentary as a “hit piece.” In September, Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, sent Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions a letter threatening to file a defamation lawsuit ahead of the film’s release.
The rollout for Musk has been complex. In early October, independent film distributor Bleecker Street—which owns Musk’s domestic theatrical rights—moved up the release date by a week, following strong festival reviews. According to The Hollywood Reporter, YouTube, TikTok, and Meta all initially declined to advertise the trailer for Musk leading up to the film’s debut; X did not advertise the trailer at all.
Musk will be available to rent or buy starting November 6, at which point it will no longer play in theaters.