(THE WHALE) Elon Musk is now set to be immortalized on the big screen. Based on his biography, a biopic is in the works with Darren Aronofsky directing.
He is one of the most vibrant and controversial personalities of our time: business magnate Elon Reeve Musk. The 52-year-old is the CEO of the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, founder and CEO/CTO of the space exploration company SpaceX, and has recently developed the chatbot Grok as a challenge to OpenAI’s ChatGPT through his AI company xAI, founded just in July of this year.
Apart from his business activities, Musk, born in Pretoria, South Africa, is known for his sometimes controversial statements, his affinity for geek and nerd culture, and the scandalous acquisition of Twitter (now X).
According to Forbes’ constantly updated real-time list, Musk is currently the richest person in the world. He has a fortune of $227.1 billion, significantly surpassing Bernard Arnault with $182.7 billion, who is in second place.
Now, the life of the eccentric tech entrepreneur is set to be filmed, as reported by Variety. The basis for the film is Walter Isaacson’s biography “Elon Musk,” released in September. Isaacson is also the author of the biography of Apple legend Steve Jobs. The production will be handled by the celebrated and successful independent label A24, which recently won 9 Oscars out of 18 nominations for six films at the 95th Academy Awards, including “Everything Everywhere All At Once” and “The Whale.” Besides these films, “Aftersun,” “Causeway,” “Close,” and “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” were each nominated for an Oscar.
Reports suggest there was fierce competition for the film rights to the biography. The victory of A24, an independent studio, is not taken for granted and could indicate the importance of producing a high-quality biopic rather than capitalizing solely on Elon Musk’s name and the current enthusiasm for biopics.
Recently, Christopher Nolan and Universal Pictures made waves with the biographical film “Oppenheimer,” earning an incredible $948 million worldwide. It seems like there was not much left until absolute sensation. We also highly recommend other biopics to you.
Elon Musk Biopic: Darren Aronofsky is the Right Man for the Job
Even though the planned biopic seems to be in its early stages, a director has already been chosen. Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky will be responsible for bringing Elon Musk’s eventful life to the screen. The 54-year-old recently achieved success with “The Whale,” contributing to the “Brenaissance” of lead actor Brendon Fraser.
Aronofsky also helped Mickey Rourke make a brief comeback with “The Wrestler – Fame, Love, Pain.” He first gained worldwide attention in 1998 with “Pi,” before achieving breakthrough success with “Requiem for a Dream.” Since then, he has impressed audiences with sophisticated works such as “The Fountain” and “Black Swan.”
Aronofsky stands out not only for his ability to elicit emotions from his actors through seemingly restrained performances that invite viewers into the minds of their characters, but also for his adept use of cinematic techniques to reflect the emotional layer.
In Aronofsky’s hands, no effect is applied just for the sake of it. Coupled with Musk’s sometimes entirely irrational statements and decisions, this is likely to create an explosive mix. It will be intriguing to see what the entrepreneur himself thought when he responded on X (formerly Twitter):
NEWS: An Elon Musk biopic is in development and Darren Aronofsky will direct.
Walter Isaacson’s biography will serve as the basis for the screenplay pic.twitter.com/SpPJ9ahllI
— X Daily News (@xDaily) November 10, 2023
You can stream the authorized biography-based “Steve Jobs,” written by Walter Isaacson, on Amazon.