So I can tell you what Alex Gibney told me tonight.
Universal Pictures will be distributing his “Musk” documentary around the world, as planned.
There was a brief moment of hesitation, but the studio sees the big picture and will continue with its original plan.
Bleecker Street and HBO are distributing in the US and Canada, also as planned. Gibney says they’ve both been amazing, and cited HBO for its steadfastness.
Our conversation took place after the screening of Gibney’s other doc that’s about to be released, “Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie,” the remarkable story of writer Salman Rushdie’s 2022 stabbing at the Chautauqua Festival in upstate New York.
By the way, the attempted murderer, Hadi Matar, has been convicted at the state and federal levels, and is going to be in prison for life.
Gibney’s doc, made with extraordinary footage provided by Rushie’s wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, opens today in New York before going wide across the country. It’s a riveting piece of work that shows the attack on the writer and how he managed to come back from it.
Rushdie and Griffith attended a private screening last night in New York followed by a reception at Barbuto restaurant. Rushdie was too exhausted to make the party after a Q&A, but Griffith is his able ambassador who accepted kudos from a room full of documentary filmmakers.
As for “Musk,” Gibney, Bleecker, and HBO send it into the world on October 9th in New York and Los Angeles, followed by a wide release. By all accounts, Elon Musk is unmasked in many ways in this film, which is even more important now that we’re learning how dangerous AI is becoming.
More on the Rushdie film this weekend.
