Four hours is a long time to spend with anyone. Four hours with Elon Musk sounds like either a documentary or a very aggressive hostage negotiation.
Alex Gibney’s new film “Musk” is the sprawling documentary about the billionaire entrepreneur, tracing his journey from the early internet days through Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter/X, artificial intelligence and his growing political influence. The film runs approximately 3 hours and 45 minutes, plus a 10-minute intermission.
And there’s an obvious problem Gibney had to solve: Musk did not participate in the documentary.
Instead, Gibney relies on extensive archival interviews, conversations with former associates, journalists, family members and other people who have been part of Musk’s orbit. The filmmakers also created a digital representation of Musk using his existing words and recorded statements—a particularly 2026 solution to the classic documentary problem of “What if the subject refuses to sit down?”
The result is less a conventional biography and more an attempt to connect the dots between the different versions of Musk the public has encountered: technology entrepreneur, Tesla figurehead, SpaceX visionary, X owner, AI entrepreneur and political power broker.
Gibney, whose previous documentaries have examined figures and institutions including Steve Jobs, Elizabeth Holmes and Scientology, structures “Musk” chronologically, beginning with Musk’s early ventures and following his increasingly expansive ambitions.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2026 and is scheduled for a U.S. theatrical release in October.
So, is four hours of Elon Musk excessive?
Possibly.
But considering the man has managed to become simultaneously associated with electric cars, rockets, satellites, social media, AI and government, Gibney apparently decided that three hours and 45 minutes was the short version.
