Alex Gibney’s Musk has released its first teaser ahead of the documentary’s world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, immediately putting Elon Musk’s achievements and controversies side by side. The 48-second teaser begins with voices calling Musk possibly the greatest living inventor, the real-life Iron Man and one of the greatest builders of all time. The praise soon gives way to far harsher descriptions, with voices calling him “chaotic, random, capricious, manifestly cruel and selfish,” while another calls him “a fascist.”

The sharp change in tone sets up the central idea of Gibney’s documentary. Featuring spacecraft and space imagery, the teaser moves between admiration for Musk’s accomplishments and criticism of his character and growing influence. It ends with the striking line, “Elon is a nuke,” before the spacecraft imagery turns destructive. The preview therefore offers more than a traditional introduction, signalling that Musk will examine both the extraordinary success and the intense criticism surrounding one of the world’s most powerful technology figures.

Musk is directed and produced by Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning filmmaker known for investigative documentaries. The official Venice listing gives the film a running time of 225 minutes, followed by a 10-minute intermission. It is an unusually large project in both length and subject, examining Musk’s career, public image and influence across technology, business and politics.

Gibney began work on the documentary in March 2023, making it a project that has developed over several years. The film arrives during a period when Musk’s influence extends far beyond Tesla and SpaceX. His ownership of X, the expansion of Starlink, his involvement in artificial intelligence and his political activity have all become important parts of his public profile. The documentary aims to examine how those different areas connect to the larger story of Musk’s power.

Musk himself does not appear as a participant in the documentary. After news of the project emerged, he described it on X as a “hit piece.” Gibney responded by questioning how Musk could know what the film would say before seeing it. The exchange added another layer of interest to a documentary already focused on a highly polarising public figure.

The film also features people connected to different parts of Musk’s story. The official Venice cast list includes Justine Musk, Ashley St. Clair, Kara Swisher, Martin Eberhard, Zoe Schiffer and Geoffrey Hinton. Their presence gives the documentary access to perspectives linked to Musk’s personal history, companies, public statements and wider impact.

It also makes the documentary timely for cinema audiences because Musk is no longer viewed only through the companies he built or led. His decisions, statements and political reach have made him a cultural figure, giving Gibney’s film a subject that extends far beyond technology.

The film’s production also includes a notable musical contribution. David Byrne, the Talking Heads frontman, wrote and performed “Let Me Sell You a Dream” with composer Daniel Pemberton. The song uses lines taken from Musk’s own public remarks, giving the film an unusual closing musical element. Byrne’s involvement also adds another high-profile creative name to Gibney’s project.

Following its Venice premiere, Musk is scheduled to continue to the Toronto International Film Festival. Its arrival is significant not simply because it profiles one of the world’s most recognisable technology figures, but because it attempts to examine the relationship between innovation, wealth, influence and public power.

The teaser does not settle that debate. Instead, it places the competing views directly in front of audiences, moving from extraordinary praise to severe criticism in less than a minute. With its long runtime, major contributors and unusually divisive subject, Musk enters Venice built around a simple but important question: how should Elon Musk’s remarkable achievements be understood alongside the serious criticism surrounding his growing influence?