A biopic about controversial tech billionaireElon Muskis in the works. As reported byPuck,The Whale’sDarren Aronofskyis set to direct. The Oscar-nominated director will adapt Walter Isaacson’s recently published biography,Elon Musk, for the big screen. A24, the American indie production companyknown for critically acclaimed films likeLady Bird, Moonlight,andEverything Everywhere All at Once,acquired rights to the film following an intense bidding war.
Biopic author Isaacson, a former chair and CEO of CNN, previously pennedSteve Jobs, which was adapted for the big screen through a 2015 film of the same name directed by Danny Boyle and starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs. Isaacson’s Musk biography includes details about his challenging childhood (during which he was allegedly emotionally abused by his father, Errol), his past romantic relationships, and 11 children.
Isaacson spent two years communicating with the tech mogul and his family, friends, and colleagues to complete the biography. In a previous interview withPBS, Isaacson said that it was surprising, given Musk’s “populist tendencies” how accessible he was throughout the process:
“It was sort of amazing that he opened up and was so transparent. And, as you kind of indicated, I’m an old-fashioned journalist. In fact, I’m part of that old mainstream. I have been on the “NewsHour” before and worked at “TIME” magazine. I worked at CNN. And so it’s somewhat surprising, given his populist tendencies, that he would open up,” he said. “But I just spent the past two years riding along at his side, just watching, just observing. And he said: I’m going to be transparent. Nothing’s off-limits. Come to any meeting.And the only part of the deal was, he didn’t have control over the book.”
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Elon Musk: A Polarizing Innovator
The South African tech entrepreneur, who currently tops Forbes' Real Time Billionaires list, has proven to be one of the world’s top visionaries. Among his accomplishments, Musk co-founded Paypal, founded SpaceX (a company that makes spacecraft and rockets), was a funder of the automotive and energy company Tesla, and co-founded the neurotechnology company Neuralink.
Despite Musk’s accomplishments, he’s easily become one of our time’s most controversial personalities. Musk acted as the chairman of TESLA until 2018, when he was forced to step down after he was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for defrauding investors. TESLA, which lists Musk as its CEO, has been accused of racist and sexist behavior. Musk’s online activities have also left some heads shaking: he’s shared misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, threatened that TESLA factory workers could lose stock options if they unionized, and, in 2022, likened Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler in a tweet supporting truckers protesting vaccine mandates (this was quickly deleted by Musk after sparking backlash).
Musk currently serves asthe chairman and CTO of X Corp- the company formerly known as Twitter. Last month, the SEC sued Musk once again in an effort to get him to testify about his 2022 purchase of Twitter stock.
Speaking of X, Musk took to it on Friday to share his contentment over Aronofsky’s involvement, sharing:“Glad Darren is doing it. He is one of the best.”
Given Aronofsky’s previous projects, which includeRequiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Wrestler,andThe Whale, it’s hard to disagree. No other names are currently attached to the Musk biopic.
