Elon Musk's lawyer Alex Spiro sent a legal warning to the producers of Alex Gibney's nearly four-hour documentary "Musk," accusing the filmmakers of presenting a predetermined narrative — the project "began with a conclusion," Spiro wrote — and Musk has called the film a "hit piece." Gibney and his team have fired back, saying the film underwent extensive fact-checking and legal review.
The letter, sent to Gibney's Jigsaw Productions on September 3 — five days before the film's Venice premiere — targets the documentary's handling of claims that Musk used Starlink to sway the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Spiro wrote that the production was "on notice, before release, that the insinuation is false," arguing that references to Musk's "lasers in space" concern only Starlink's inter-satellite links. Musk, who did not participate in the documentary, has reviewed it from afar on X, calling Gibney "a bitter old man who lost the plot long ago" and "a horrible human" with "ZERO integrity."
Gibney's response has been defiant. "I reached out immediately… But he clearly wasn't interested in talking. We made so many formal outreaches to him, and with the exception of his remarks on Twitter, we received nothing back," the Oscar-winning director said. His team says the film was built from Musk's own public statements — a simulated version of Musk assembled from years of posts, interviews and appearances — and subjected to rigorous legal vetting. The film reportedly holds a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer.
"Musk" runs 3 hours and 45 minutes, plus a 10-minute intermission, and examines Musk's rise through Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter/X, as well as his growing political influence and relationship with Donald Trump. The interview roster includes Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, tech critic Corey Doctorow, journalists Kara Swisher and Zoë Schiffer, "Godfather of AI" Geoffrey Hinton, Musk's first wife Justine Musk, and Ashley St. Clair, the mother of one of Musk's children — whose claim about Musk and the 2024 election sits at the center of the legal threat.
The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on October 9 through distributor Bleecker Street, expanding nationwide on October 16, with Universal handling international release and an HBO window set for the first quarter of 2027. It has already faced headwinds beyond the legal threats: according to The Hollywood Reporter, every major social media platform — including Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and X itself — refused to run paid ads for the film, labeling them "political content." No lawsuit has actually been filed yet, but with release days away, the standoff between the world's richest man and one of documentary film's most decorated directors is heading for its public premiere.