VENICE, Italy — Elon Musk is threatening legal action against filmmaker Alex Gibney over a nearly four-hour documentary examining the billionaire's influence across technology, business and politics, following the film's world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this week, where it received a five-minute standing ovation.

Musk's attorney, Alex Spiro, sent a letter to Gibney's production company, Jigsaw Productions, on Sept. 3, putting the team on "formal legal notice" over claims made in the documentary, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The letter specifically focuses on an insinuation the film makes suggesting Musk used his Starlink satellite network to help influence the 2024 U.S. presidential election in favor of President Donald Trump.

Spiro's letter argued that Gibney's production failed to properly verify its claims before moving forward with the film.

"You are on notice, before release, that the insinuation is false, that the material refuting it is public, and that you chose not to be told the rest," Spiro wrote to Jigsaw Productions.

The letter also accused the production of declining multiple opportunities to fact-check its reporting directly with Musk's team or with individuals who could have offered contradicting testimony.

"This project did not begin as an inquiry," Spiro wrote. "It began with a conclusion ... Because you have refused to screen the film, refused to fact-check it with us, and refused the witnesses who came to you, we have every reason........

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