Alex Gibney has made films about powerful people, corporations and organizations before: Enron, Elizabeth Holmes, Scientology and the U.S. military’s abuses at Bagram and Abu Ghraib are just a few.
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Enron → make → Bagram
And yet, he said, nothing compares to the scope of power held by his latest subject, Elon Musk.
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nothing → say → subject
With a nearly four-hour runtime, “Musk” is having its world premiere this week at the Venice Film Festival.
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Musk → have → Festival
It's one of the most hotly anticipated of the festival and the year — Bleecker Street is releasing it in theaters in October.
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Street → anticipate → October
Gibney spoke to The Associated Press about upending the Musk myth, his revelations about his power and his support of President Donald Trump.
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Gibney → speak → Trump
Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Remarks → edit → clarity
Let’s start with the obvious, simple question: Why Elon Musk?
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’s → let → question
A number of people came to me a few years ago, actually early 2023, and said, would you like to make a film about him?
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you → come → him
And I initially wasn’t sure, but a really good friend of mine convinced me that it was a good idea because it would be a portrait of kind of 21st century power.
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it → convince → power
And so with that, I dug in.
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I → dig → that
The nature and scope of his power is something that remains a little mysterious.
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that → remain → power
Can you go into a little bit about what you found and how your film addresses that?
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film → go → that
In some ways it’s a simple story (with) a lot of complicated details.
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it → ’ → details
I think the source of his power comes from, how should I put this, (expletive)?
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I → think → expletive
That is to say, his ability to speak with confidence about the future in ways that convince people to invest in his companies.
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that → say → companies
It’s really a future that rarely is in sync with facts or evidence or any remote possibility.
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that → ’ → facts
So that is really what I discovered.
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I → discover → what
That and the fact I think his genius, if there is a genius, is that he is not an inventor, he’s an investor.
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he → think → ?
The other thing I discovered was that the reasons for turning toward Trump were both a break with the past, I mean, people look to the way that he was idolized by many people on the, you could call it the left, or people who regarded him as a kind of climate savior for what he was doing with Tesla.
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he → discover → Tesla
Many people wondered about that transition.
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people → wonder → transition
I discovered two things.
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I → discover → things
One is, in a way, it was a predictable transition because he goes where the federal government money is.
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money → go → way
But the other reason is his companies were facing an enormous number of federal investigations.
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companies → face → investigations
But out of that case, there was a good chance that under a (Kamala) Harris administration, he might go to prison.
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he → be → prison
He joked about that on the Tucker Carlson show.
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He → joke → show
I think those were two key motivators that I had initially underestimated.
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I → think → that
A lot of people clocked it to the woke mind virus.
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lot → clock → virus
After doing some research, I didn’t see it that way.
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I → do → it
You’ve covered powerful people and companies before in your films.
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You → cover → films
Does anything compare to this?
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anything → compare → this
Nothing compares to this in terms of the scope of his power.
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Nothing → compare → power
What’s interesting about Musk is it’s not so much something that’s new as an old wine in a new bottle.
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that → ’ → bottle
And Musk, I think like some of the characters that I’ve followed in the past, is afflicted with what some people call noble cause corruption.
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people → think → what
That is to say, you begin to believe in a cause.
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you → say → cause
And in Musk’s case, it was making us multiplanetary and also leading us into a more sustainable environmental world.
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us → make → world
And because you’re in line with those important, valuable, good causes, anything you do in the service of those causes is OK.
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you → ’re → causes
And ultimately that leads you to corruption.
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that → lead → corruption
He’s not dissimilar from Elizabeth Holmes in the way that he bent the truth to serve his impulses.
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he → ’ → impulses
The one big difference with Musk is that he has companies (SpaceX and Tesla) which contain a great number of very qualified engineers and executive leaders.
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which → have → engineers
There was the famous social media exchange where Musk called the film a hit piece and you responded, “How would you know?”
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you → be → film
…and 17 more, not listed.
