We all knew it was just a matter of time before one of the world’s richest and most controversial men would get the biopic treatment, and now it’s happening. Elon Musk is getting his own movie, helmed by acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky and produced by A24, as initially reported by Variety.
The film will be based on Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography, which has received unfavorable reviews, with outlets like the Los Angeles Times suggesting the author “mostly accepts Musk’s confident prognostications as gospel” and The Guardian calling it an “insight-free doorstop.” Not all reviews were that dire, of course, but many point to Isaacson’s book as a clear example of the perils of access journalism.
Isaacson also wrote a biography on Steve Jobs, adapted into the 2015 film starring Michael Fassbender and directed by Danny Boyle. This movie was an incredibly loose adaptation of Isaacson’s book, so we’ll see what Aronofsky does with the material. If anyone can put their stamp on things, it’s the director behind Mother!, The Whale, Requiem for a Dream, and Black Swan.
This film’s still in early development, so there’s no writer attached yet, and there have been no casting announcements. In a recent Reddit thread, commenters’ top-voted casting picks for Musk were Nicolas Cage, Rami Malek, Jesse Eisenberg, and Robert Downey Jr.
