Alex Gibney’s long-gestating documentary about Elon Musk is finally ready for release. Muskthe Oscar-winner’s portrait of a controversial technocrat’s years in the making with oligarchs, will premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September — and clocks in at a scale perhaps befitting the world’s first trillionaire: 232 minutes, just shy of four hours.
Venice Artistic Director Alberto Barbera revealed the selection in Rome on Thursday while unveiling the festival’s 2026 lineup, pausing to make sure the audience appreciated how well Elon mustered in the Gibney Exam. “I invite you to take a look at the length of the film, four hours,” Barbera said with a wry smile.
“[Gibney] The festival president added: “It traces the entire profession – the contradictions, the conditioning power that is concentrated in the hands of one man. Think of a genius of capitalist entrepreneurship, but also a dangerous technocrat, with no moral scruples.”
Only a few modern documentaries of the highest caliber have had such a long and difficult journey on screen. Gibney first revealed he was working on the film in March 2023, calling it a “final, candid test” for the heads of Tesla, SpaceX and X. The director reportedly delivered the final cut in early 2025 — only to return to the editing suite amid Musk’s vocal support and financial support for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, followed by his stint next to the Oval Office as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). As Musk continues to generate controversial headlines, those following the Gibney project have naturally begun to wonder when and how the director will be able to finish the film.
Last summer, the film’s backers, HBO Documentary Films and Bleecker Street, acknowledged their director’s predicament, issuing a joint statement, saying, “The film continues to grow in scope as the story develops.”
And there’s still more to come… Last month, SpaceX’s record-breaking IPO — the largest IPO in history, raising about $75 billion at a roughly $1.8 trillion valuation — took Musk’s fortune to a stunningly obscene point, where he is now considered the world’s first trillionaire.
Musk was characteristically unrestrained in his reaction to the documentary.
“It’s a hit piece,” he posted on X when the project was first announced in 2023, prompting Gibney to respond: “How do you know?”
Musk also once tweeted — “Gibney is a douche” — and Gibney said he responded: “Douche.”
Bleecker Street will be launched Musk In US theaters on October 16, with HBO Documentary Films holding North American television and streaming rights, and Black Bear handling international sales. Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions is produced using Zhang Xin’s Closer Media, Double Agent and Anonymous Content.
Gibney has spent the past three decades of his career criticizing powerful institutions and the men who run them. It won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Taxi to the dark sidewas nominated for Enron: The smartest guys in the room It received widespread critical acclaim for Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. He’s dealt with Silicon Valley icons and villains before too, with projects like Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine And expose Elizabeth Holmes The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. He is no stranger to the Lido, having first exhibited his portrait of Mikhail Khodorkovsky Citizen K There in 2019.
The 83rd Venice Film Festival will be held from September 2 to 12.
