Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, took the spotlight at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday. Not in person! But he and his influence took center stage as filmmaker Gibney discussed his new docu, simply called Musk, during a press conference
The film about the owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is world-premiering in the Italian fest’s Venice Open – Out of Competition program.

It comes from producers Jigsaw Productions (Gibney, Jessie Deeter, Erin Edeiken), Closer Media (Zhang Xin), Anonymous Content (Nick Shumaker, Jessica Grimshaw) and Double Agent (Dana O’Keefe).

Gibney shared how the docu team reached out to Musk for the film, without success, and how the focus of the project changed once the tech mogul “got wrapped into Donald Trump” and his story.

The result is a mix of “the reality of what he has done and the unreality of his narrative,” the filmmaker said. “In the service of that, we created this formulation that came out of Musk’s own ideas about the notion that we’re living in a simulation or in some kind of existential video game, to convey in formal terms, through a kind of avatar, which speaks with Musk’s actual words, and video game imagery” both sides, the reality and the unreality.

Asked if Gibney is concerned about a potential legal backlash by Musk, Gibney said. “We consulted our lawyers, and they gave us a sign-off to go forward,” when the doc team decided to use Musk’s words and visualize the mogul as an avatar.”

How dangerous is Musk, for the future of democracy?

“Extremely,” Gibney concluded. “Very dangerous.”

Support for Germany’s Right Wing Victory

The feature also focused on the tech mogul’s support for political parties on the right flank of the political spectrum in such countries as Germany, where the far-right AfD just won a regional election in Saxony-Anhalt this weekend.

In fact, Musk congratulated the party on the victory via a “Well done!” on his X.

Ulrich Siegmund, the AfD’s lead candidate in the region, thanked the billionaire in return, posting: “Thank you, @elongmusk, for your support and for your clear and highly important perspective on the political developments of our time — including here in Germany. If we take responsibility here, I would very much welcome the opportunity for strong and constructive cooperation. Germany would once again be a place worth investing in.”

“I hope I showed in the film that Musk has been involved in right-wing political parties all over the globe – in Germany, in the United Kingdom, in Brazil, in Turkey, and I think there are a number of reasons for that,” Gibney told the Venice press conference.

“That seems to be his ideology at the moment. But in addition , many of these right-wing governments tend to be more pliable, and it’s easier to buy the results you want for administrations that are utterly corrupt and venal and have no sense of restraint or internal checks and balances.”

Ideologcal and Moneytaay Motivation

Suggesting that these players are “more pliable,” the filmmaker emphasized the “crony capitalist aspect to his political aspirations.”

“With Trump suddenly, and with many other right-wing leaders around the world, he sees the possibility of being able to buy unprecedented influence, because they’re much more amenable to the crony capitalist idea.”

Gigney’s conclusion was that Musk is “always pragmatic and moves quickly where the money is.”

Gibney was joined during the press conference by political commentator and author Ashley St. Clair, who has a baby with Musk, and technology journalist and author Zoë Schiffer.

Schiffer pointed out that at his companies, Musk tends to ensure “loyalty” at the highest levels,” while treating people “pretty harshly.” At X, “he has tweaked the algorithm both to suppress mainstream journalism and to augment some of the more inflammatory comments and voices on that platform,” she said.

St. Clair’s Baby with Musk

mentioned her past claim that “I was offered the opportunity not to speak for $40 million” in the form of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) when she had her baby with Musk.

“I got involved with Republican politics when I was 18, after I met Charlie Kirk, and there was an air of ignorance,” she explained. “But that ignorance does not excuse any role in that. I hope the risk that I’m taking now in speaking out and trying to fight back at least helps a little bit.”

Gibney and St. Clair mentioned what Musk’s “very difficult and traumatic childhood” as potential driver for him and his focus. “I think to some extent he’s now playing out that trauma on the rest of us.”

“Musk” as cautionary tale

In sum, Gibney called his movie Musk “a cautionary tale” that tries, among a “bewildering world of inputs” in the social media age, to stitch together a narrative to show the forest amid all the trees.