Gibney's 'Musk' Documentary Runs Nearly 4 Hours, Debuts Friday

Alex Gibney's documentary about Elon Musk opens in theaters nationwide Friday, running nearly four hours with a 10-minute intermission, according to Wired. The film, titled simply "Musk," draws on roughly four years of production and interviews with the entrepreneur's associates, ex-partners and critics, Wired reported. Its central subject never agreed to sit down with the director.

What Is Alex Gibney's "Musk" Documentary About

Gibney, the director behind the film, builds it around the rise of the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive, tracing what Wired describes as "how much of his genius is based on his formidable ability to promote his own mythology—and the stock price of his public companies." The lineup of interview subjects includes his first wife, Justine Musk, and his ex-girlfriend Ashley St. Claire, along with journalist Kara Swisher and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, Wired reported. Wired's own global editorial director, Katie Drummond, and senior writer Zoë Schiffer also appear in the film, according to the outlet's account of its own production.

How Long Is the Film and When Does It Open

The documentary opens Friday in theaters nationwide, Wired reported.

• Runtime: nearly four hours, including a 10-minute intermission, per Wired.
• Production: roughly four years of filming and interviews, according to Wired's account of the project.
• Named interview subjects: at least seven, including Justine, Ashley St. Claire, Kara Swisher, Reid Hoffman, Zoë Schiffer, Katie Drummond and Errol Musk, Elon's father.

Why Didn't the Film's Subject Sit for an Interview

The Tesla and SpaceX leader never agreed to an interview for the project, Wired reported. Instead, Gibney's team assembled a composite interview from archival audio and public remarks, rendering it through a digital avatar that recurs throughout the film, according to Wired.

"I actually thought because he'd been so outspoken about this idea of a simulation, that cinematically we should lean into that," Gibney told Wired, describing the decision to build the composite interview from existing recordings rather than wait for a sit-down that never came.

Gibney said the approach let the film probe what he called "the shifting sands between what is real and what is unreal" and connect to broader questions about artificial intelligence large-language models, a recurring theme in the documentary, Wired reported.

Who Agreed to Appear, Including the Subject's Father

One person agreed immediately: the entrepreneur's father, Errol. "We had Errol Musk at 'hello,'" Gibney told Wired. Everyone else took longer to persuade. Gibney said other participants required considerable convincing, citing what he described to Wired as a high risk for anyone speaking candidly about the film's main figure.

What to Watch For When "Musk" Opens

• How the nationwide theatrical release performs starting Friday, per Wired's account of the rollout.
• Whether the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive responds publicly; he has not commented on the film, according to Wired.
• Critical reaction to the near-four-hour runtime and the simulated-interview device built from archival audio, a choice Gibney says mirrors his subject's own public comments about living in a simulation.
• Whether Errol's on-camera remarks about his son draw renewed attention, given how quickly he agreed to take part, Wired reported.

Read Wired's full interview with Gibney for more on how the film was assembled and what material did not make the final cut: The Big Interview: Alex Gibney on 'Musk'.

How Many People Did Gibney Interview for the Film

Gibney interviewed scores of Musk's associates over the course of production, Wired reported, far more than the handful of named subjects who appear most prominently on screen. The finished film amounts to what Wired describes as "a damning portrait of the trillionaire CEO," built from that broader pool of interviews alongside the composite Musk assembled from archival audio.

Why Does Landing Errol Musk Matter to the Film

Getting Errol Musk on camera represented what Wired called a watershed moment for the project, given the complicated relationship between Elon Musk and his father. Gibney told Wired that persuading most other subjects to participate took considerably more effort than securing Errol's cooperation. "Everybody else took a lot of persuasion," Gibney said, pointing to the risk anyone speaking candidly about the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive faced in agreeing to appear on screen, according to Wired.

Artiglio is A coming-soon iPhone chief of staff for briefings and drafts. Not on the App Store yet.