Is Elon Musk a Con Man?
Short summary
Documentarian Alex Gibney explains how his four-hour film about Elon Musk took shape, from an early, mostly admiring view of Musk to a more critical one as Musk's political turn and Twitter behavior unfolded. He also covers why Musk refused to sit for an interview and how that and other people's fear of Musk shaped the film.
- Gibney started the project seeing Musk as an intriguing maverick inventor, and says the film's tone shifted as his public conduct escalated.
- The film was originally planned as a two-hour version, but Musk's involvement with Trump led HBO to push for more material, expanding it to four hours.
- Musk never agreed to an interview; he responded to outreach by calling Gibney a "douche" on Twitter, and many other insiders declined to go on camera for fear of lawsuits or career consequences.
- The host argues Musk's public image was shaped by coverage he never fully followed, and that footage in the film shows a side of him the host didn't see during their friendship.
Full summary
Alex Gibney, the documentarian behind Enron, Going Clear, and The Inventor, sits down with host Sam (likely Sam Harris) to discuss his new film "Musk," a four-hour documentary on Elon Musk set for theaters before an HBO release. The conversation opens with a claim from the transcript that Musk is not Tesla's founder. Martin Eberhard and Mark Tarpenning founded the company, and Musk only settled a lawsuit Eberhard brought over money he felt he was owed when Eberhard agreed to publicly describe Musk as a founder. Gibney frames the film around a recurring theme in his work: powerful, self-interested people who cause real harm.
Gibney explains the film's history. A two-hour cut was nearly finished for fall 2024 festival premieres when Trump was nearly assassinated and Musk threw his support behind Trump. HBO told Gibney to keep going, and the project expanded into the four-hour version. Gibney started the project seeing Musk as an intriguing maverick inventor. He owned a Tesla Powerwall and Tesla solar panels, and he was drawn in by what he called 21st-century power. He admits the central question he kept wrestling with was whether Musk fundamentally changed, especially after Twitter, or whether existing traits simply grew more extreme. Sam, who knew Musk personally and interviewed for the film, says he saw a private side of him and missed much of his public behavior, which the documentary footage makes clear.
On the logistics, Gibney says Musk never sat down for an interview, though a producer who had worked on two earlier Musk docs had entree and sent friendly letters. Musk's only response was to post on Twitter that Gibney is a "douche." Gibney notes this fits a pattern, since subjects like Elizabeth Holmes, the Enron executives, and Julian Assange also declined to sit with him. The conversation sets up the question of whether the film is fair to its subject, a question the two men plan to pursue in more depth.