The Investor Behind the Inventor
The documentary also challenges Musk’s public image as an inventor, arguing his real skill lies in driving up stock valuations through his own statements — not in building the technology itself.
Elon Musk walks to the White House after landing in Marine One on the South Lawn with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured) on March 9, 2025, in Washington, D.C. | Source: Getty Images
Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard, who is not Musk despite popular belief, says in the film that most people wrongly assume Musk started the company. “He has an ego problem,” Eberhard says, adding that he regrets ceding so much control to him.
The film also examines Tesla’s Autopilot feature, tying it to more than 60 deaths and related lawsuits, and argues Musk’s promises about self-sustaining Mars colonies within 20 years ignore the planet’s lack of oxygen and high radiation levels.
Elon Musk with his son X Æ A-Xii standing next to President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in Washington, D.C. on February 11, 2025. | Source: Getty Images
Elon Musk Denies Claims and Blasts Director
Musk has made his feelings about the film clear, though notably, most of his anger has landed on Gibney rather than the women speaking out. “He has ZERO integrity,” Musk wrote on X. “Horrible human.”
He also took aim at the people Gibney chose to interview, claiming the director “just assembled a hit list of people who either have an axe to grind or don’t even know me.”
Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023, in Paris, France. | Source: Getty Images
As for St. Clair’s NDA claims specifically, Musk is denying them outright. He told TMZ that she “was never offered that and has a history of making false claims,” and he repeated the same denial in a post on X.
Interestingly, Musk hasn’t turned that same hostility toward Justine. In a January post on X, he called his first wife “an amazing woman” — even as her account of their marriage, and their son’s final moments, plays out on screen for the world to see.
“Musk” opens in theaters October 16.
