Trending 
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s lawyers have threatened legal action against the makers of a new four-hour documentary about him, alleging the film defames him.
Musk’s attorney, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to a producer at Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions on September 3, days before the documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
Spiro accused the Oscar-winning documentarian of producing “Musk” with a predetermined conclusion and alleged that Gibney refused to allow Musk or people close to him to fact-check the film.
“This project did not begin as an inquiry. It began with a conclusion,” Spiro wrote.
The documentary premiered on Tuesday at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a lengthy standing ovation and strong reviews.
Gibney’s film traces Musk’s career from his emergence as a dot-com entrepreneur in Silicon Valley in the early 2000s to his rise to become the world’s first trillionaire.
It also examines his personal life, including his childhood and his 14 known children with several women.
Trade publication Variety described the film as a “lacerating portrait”, while Deadline called it “damning” and said it portrayed Musk as “petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel.”
Credit: AFP
Legal warning extends to distributors
Spiro’s letter placed not only Gibney and Jigsaw Productions on notice but also parties involved in the film’s release, including HBO, Bleecker Street and Universal.
The lawyer focused particularly on a sequence that he said promoted a conspiracy theory suggesting Musk knew early on election night in 2024 that Donald Trump had won because his Starlink satellites had been used to influence the election result.
Jigsaw Productions rejected the accusations in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, arguing that scrutiny of powerful public figures is protected by the First Amendment.
The company said that principle should be defended by all Americans, “including the associates of Elon Musk, who has proclaimed himself to be a ‘free speech absolutist’”.
Gibney is known for documentaries spotlighting powerful institutions and individuals. His previous works have covered the Church of Scientology, Enron and intelligence operations involving Israel and Iran.
He won the Academy Award for Best Documentary for “Taxi to the Dark Side”, which examined US military interrogation practices in Afghanistan.
Musk attacks film on X
Citing the likelihood of litigation, Spiro’s letter instructed those involved in the production to preserve all records relating to the documentary.
The preservation order covers footage, interview transcripts, research materials and internal communications.
Musk has also spent several days criticising Gibney and the film on X, the social media platform he owns.
He described the documentary as a “hit piece that misses” and dismissed it as boring.
The filmmakers have not indicated that they intend to withdraw the documentary, which has continued to attract attention following its Venice premiere.
