“How would you know?”
Early Review
Heads up, movie heads and the Elon Musk-curious: there’s an upcoming documentary about the controversial billionaire, and it’s directed by Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.”
But even though the project isn’t out yet and lacks a release date or confirmed title, Musk has nonetheless taken to Twitter to preemptively decry the movie.
“It’s a hit piece,” Musk tweeted in response to a tweet about the film’s announcement.
Gibney, though, wasn’t going to take the remark lying down.
“How would you know?” he rejoined. Musk has yet to respond.
Unflattering Look
But given his kneejerk reaction, it sounds like Musk might be worried. And to be fair, he has good reason to be.
The film’s studio described it as a “definitive and unvarnished examination” of Musk, according to Variety. In other words, the documentary will be a far cry from a hagiographic biopic, which is to be expected if you’re vaguely familiar with Gibney’s filmography.
Take, for example, an earlier documentary of his: “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” which examined corporate fraud perpetrated by high-ranking executives at the company.
Gibney has also tackled a tech industry billionaire before: disgraced biotech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes, in his 2019 documentary “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.”
Musk, a tech CEO whose business practices have come under scrutiny at pretty much every company he helms, seems like a natural target for Gibney, especially now that Musk has forced himself further into the limelight with his acquisition of Twitter.
Indeed, as the richest man in the world, Musk continues to both polarize onlookers and amass legions of fans who won’t allow his image to be tarnished.
“Now is the moment for a rigorous portrait of Elon Musk, who is undeniably one of the most influential figures of our time,” said Zhang Xin, founder of the production company Closer Media, which is producing the film, as quoted by Variety.
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