14/09/2026

LYFE MONDAY | SEPT 14, 2026

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Visionary or conman? G ENIUS, madman, salesman: Elon Musk was the subject of a nearly four-hour documentary at Venice that o Polarising icon Musk stars in documentary corruption that then allows you to elect a president of the US whose soul, whose stated goal, is ‘Burn, baby, burn, drill, baby, drill,’ to actually destroy the planet,” he said.

sought to unmask the billionaire provocateur with outsized global influence in business, politics and even outer space. Film bible Variety called it “a lacerating portrait”, while Deadline said the “damning” movie had “thrashed” Musk as “petty, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, cruel”. Musk , which premiered recently at the Venice Film Festival, seeks to reframe the story of the world’s richest man whose stated ambitions include colonising Mars, transitioning the planet to sustainable energy and protecting free speech, laying bare the “unreality of his narrative”, Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney said. “I wanted to understand what game he is playing,” says director Gibney at the start of the film about the man long considered a rule-breaking genius, whose erratic behaviour and shift to right-wing politics has alienated – and confused – many. Gibney said Musk’s story was “oddly familiar” to him, having treated other larger-than-life characters in past films, from the executives behind the Enron scandal to former Theranos boss Elizabeth Holmes. “His story is the story of an old wine and a new bottle. His story turns out to be the story of the confidence man, the stock pumper,” said Gibney, adding that much of what Musk says “has an air of unreality around it”. Gibney argued that Musk’s original “admirable goals”

Cult of Elon The cult of Elon is in stark display in the film, from the near-hysterical hero worship of Musk by his Tesla fanboys to the open arms of Donald Trump and his testosterone-fuelled Make America Great Again (Maga) voters during the 2024 election campaign. The film tracks Musk’s dizzying rise from his early Silicon Valley ventures and his bold innovations at SpaceX and Tesla to his present-day courtship of right-wing leaders across the globe. “You can’t emphasise enough this sort of pragmatic, crony capitalist aspect to his political objectives,” Gibney said. Again and again, the film exposes Musk’s bold promises that fall short, whether dangerous limitations in his much-touted Tesla Autopilot technology that have led to fatalities or pledges to slash waste through the US Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) that have ended life-saving programmes around the world. Musk called the film a “hit piece” when Gibney first reached out to him to participate, without having seen it. relationships, including the fact that he has fathered at least 14 children by a series of women, also feature in the documentary. Assembly line Musk’s personal

Musk’s mutually beneficial relationship with Trump (left) is examined in the film. – AFPPIC

recently she regretted having participated in promoting US right wing politics, saying an “air of ignorance” influenced her decision. “But that ignorance does not excuse any role in that. And I hope the risks that I’m taking now in speaking out and trying to fight back, that that at least helps a little bit,” St Clair said. St Clair said Musk is “stoking flames that don’t exist in the real world” through his controversial and often incendiary comments on X. “I do believe that he is causing deliberate division that may be catastrophic if it’s not regulated or tamed, or if we don’t do our part in putting it down,” she said. Gibney, an acclaimed documentarian who won an Oscar in 2008 for Taxi to the Dark Side , said while Musk is at the centre of his film, “we’re all implicated in the story.” “For Musk, and for many of the tech oligarchs, we’ve allowed them to create a tremendous amount of power.” Not a romantic In the film, Justine provided some of the most touching, humane moments in the film as she reflects on her relationship with the buddying businessman as he made his first millions. As well as breaking down in tears as she remembered the death of their first child, she delivered some eye-popping anecdotes about the difficulties she endured. While dancing at their wedding, Musk whispered into her ear: “I am the alpha in this relationship.” She said she and other partners are referred to as “breeders”. After having a secret child with St Clair – one of a known 14 kids fathered by Musk – the entrepreneur’s fixer Jared Birchall called to offer her the US$40 million deal. In return for an upfront payment of US$15 million and US$100,000 a month for 21 years thereafter, she would agree to never disclose Musk’s name. She refused – and became one of Gibney’s most important sources. A flipped switch The documentary traced Musk’s

St Clair regrets her time as a right-wing activist and says her former partner Musk is sowing division. political conversion from a left leaning entrepreneur to one of the most influential backers of far-right politicians in the world to the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020. “Covid is when some switch flipped in his mind,” former friend and philosopher Sam Harris told Gibney. Around this time, Musk’s eldest child transitioned to become female, which Musk described as a result of the “woke mind virus”. A snub from then-president Joe Biden at an electric car event at the White House is also seen as pivotal. The documentary shed little new light on Musk’s reported use of drugs including ketamine and LSD, relying on existing reporting from The Wall Street Journal. But it revealed Musk spoke to WSJ owner Rupert Murdoch to ask him to block the paper’s story – apparently to no avail. Musk refused to speak to Gibney when he started working on the film and called him a “douchebag” on his social network X. The director innovated, using an AI-generated version of Musk reading out statements he has made in past interviews. Elsewhere, the filmmaker relies on a selection of former partners,

Gibney believes Musk’s formerly good intentions have since been corrupted. – PICS FROM REUTERS former friends and ex-business partners, all of whom have an axe to grind with the world’s richest man. Allure of power The documentary ended with an eviseration of Musk’s time as head of bureaucracy-slashing Doge under Trump, whom Musk spent US$300 million helping elect in 2024. As well as linking Doge to thousands of deaths because of cuts to American aid overseas, it also claimed Musk used it to shut down ongoing investigations against him and access information to help his companies. Gibney speculated about what Musk’s small team of 20-something computer coders did with all the data they accessed in the federal government’s systems – suggesting it might be weaponised in the future. Gibney concluded Musk has gone all-in on artificial intelligence (AI) and has stopped worrying about the technology leading to the extinction of humanity because he has a plan B. Musk’s obsession with sending people to Mars and other planets via his SpaceX rockets is a potentially lucrative “hedge” against AI getting out of control – for those with the means to pay, the documentary maker said. – AFP

“It’s kind of like an assembly line by now,” joked Musk’s first wife Justine, of his growing brood. Ashley St Clair, an ex Maga influencer and former girlfriend of

have by now been stained by “noble cause corruption”. “My cause is noble. And therefore, in the pursuit of my cause, I’m willing and able and should be allowed to do anything in pursuit of my cause, and justifies the means. That leads to a kind of legal and moral

Musk with whom she has a child, disclosed in the film that she rejected a US$40 million (RM163 million) non-disclosure agreement from the billionaire after their relationship ended.

S h e said

Musk describes the film as a ‘hit piece’. – IMDBPIC