The official trailer for Musk, Alex Gibney’s documentary about Elon Musk, has finally arrived. It runs two minutes and 24 seconds, and it makes one thing very clear: Elon Musk is not playing along.
Gibney opens the trailer with a voiceover that sets the stakes. “Elon Musk is one of the most controversial figures in the world,” he says. “So, I decided to make him a subject of my next film.”
Then comes the reveal. “But it soon became clear, Elon would not participate,” the filmmaker continues, as posts from Musk himself appear on screen. In those posts, Musk calls Gibney a “douche” and declares that the film is a “hit piece.”
Gibney’s Angle on Musk
The trailer touches on a wide range of topics connected to Musk’s career. The list includes:
- SpaceX and its operations
- Tesla and its business practices
- Musk’s acquisition of Twitter
- His personal life and entry into politics
- The rise of DOGE
Each of these subjects has drawn criticism in its own right, and the trailer suggests Gibney intends to treat them together as a single portrait of a man who has built his fortune on bold bets and public spectacle.
What the Trailer Shows
The footage covers the topics themselves: SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, Musk’s personal life, politics, and DOGE. The clips of Musk dismissing the film as a hit piece are central to the trailer’s framing.
Release Dates
| Musk Release Date | Location |
|---|---|
| Oct. 9 | Select theaters in New York and Los Angeles |
| Oct. 16 | Nationwide |
The film opens in select theaters on Oct. 9 in New York and Los Angeles, then expands nationwide on Oct. 16.
Our Take on the Trailer
The trailer’s most striking element is not its content but its method. By showing Musk’s own posts dismissing the film, Gibney frames himself as a reporter working against a wall rather than a director collaborating with a subject.
The friction is the draw. A documentary about Musk that Musk himself rejects is a notable dynamic, and the trailer leans into that tension rather than smoothing it over.
The footage shows the topics themselves — SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, Musk’s personal life, politics, and DOGE — rather than talking-head interviews or archival material. The clips of Musk dismissing the film as a hit piece are presented as evidence of the difficulty of making a fair portrait of a man who controls so much of the conversation around himself.
The release dates are set, the subject is one of the most recognizable men on earth, and the promise of the trailer is clear. Whether the final film delivers on that promise remains to be seen.
See the a run of 28 images at Mashable.
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