SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 24: Tesla CEO Elon Musk leaves the Phillip Burton Federal … [+]
News broke on Monday that Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney was producing a new film about Elon Musk. And even though the movie is reportedly not completed yet, the billionaire already has an opinion on the project.
“It’s a hit piece,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday.
Gibney was quick to reply on Twitter, “How would you know?”
The upcoming documentary is described as a “definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter,” according to Variety. And it seems like the “unvarnished” part is what makes Musk think he’s not getting the treatment he’s used to getting by his legions of fans on Twitter—something more akin to the praise of a North Korean ode to Dear Leader.
Musk built up years of goodwill through the media by positioning himself as the kind of guy who was working on world-saving projects like clean energy and journeys to distant planets. But Musk essentially lit all of that public goodwill on fire during his disastrous bid to take over Twitter. Oddly enough, the social media service the billionaire sought to own allowed the world to get a real look at what makes Musk tick.
And it wasn’t a pretty picture. Musk was exposed as a deeply insecure billionaire who wanted nothing more in life than to be adored by millions of fans. And Musk didn’t care who he hurt in the process, eventually revealing himself to be a petty and vindictive leader who’s constantly taking credit for the work of others.
Musk’s latest hits have included defending Dilbert creator Scott Adams after a racist rant that advocated for racial segregation, firing an engineer who suggested that Musk’s Twitter engagement was down because the public has tired of his antics and mocking an employee with a disability who he recently laid off.
Gibney has produced documentaries including, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine. Gibney won Best Documentary Feature in 2008 for his film Taxi to the Dark Side which looked at the CIA’s use of torture in Afghanistan after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Twitter, much like Musk’s other companies, no longer has a public relations team. But I sent an email anyway reaching out for comment since that’s the protocol, even if Musk needs to shield himself from any semblance of criticism or serious inquiry. I’ll update this post if I ever hear back.
