‘Musk’ Documentary Moves Release Date Up a Week Amid Rave Reviews and Legal Threats

Bleecker Street has delayed the debut of Alex Gibney's intense, 225-minute documentary "Musk" by one week, setting it for release in New York and Los Angeles on October 9 with subsequent nationwide rollout. The film's release comes following its glowing reception at the Venice Film Festival. Spanning Musk's meteoric journey from an emerald mine investor's son to a tech titan, including his time at Twitter/X and interactions with Donald Trump, "Musk" features a 10-minute break.

The central narrative revolves around Musk's former romantic partners' interviews, most notably his ex-wife Justine Musk and former conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair, who referred to Musk as a "nuke." Ben Croll of TheWrap dubbed the documentary an "ongoing obituary for a world and a global order in palliative care." At the premiere, Musk unleashed a tirade on X, and his attorney Alex Spiro sent Gibney's production company Jigsaw Productions a letter, asserting that Musk's team had repeatedly requested the chance to present their perspective on the doc, which they were denied.

The film claims to have been unable to secure a direct interview with Musk, resorting to an animated avatar that recites Musk's quoted statements from public appearances. Spiro's letter emphasized that the film's motivations were not rooted in seeking the truth but an alternative agenda. "You are on notice, before release, that the insinuation is false, that the material refuting it is public, and that you chose not to be told the rest," the letter continued.

October promises to be a monumental month for cinema that scrutinizes tech giants, with "Musk" joining Sony's "The Social Reckoning," Aaron Sorkin's follow-up to "The Social Network," which delves into Facebook's impact on global politics, particularly the Capitol Building riots on January 6.