An Elon Musk biopic is in development at A24 with Darren Aronofsky on board to direct, Variety has confirmed.
Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of the controversial tech mogul, which was published in September, will serve as the basis for the screenplay. Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” book was previously adapted into the 2015 Universal film of the same name, starring Michael Fassbender as the Apple CEO.
Sources tell Variety that there was heated competition to option Isaacson’s book from studios and filmmakers alike, with A24 ultimately winning the bidding war. Aronofsky, who most recently directed last year’s Oscar contender “The Whale” starring Brendan Fraser, is known for his surreal filmmaking style, which often includes psychological elements. His past credits include “Requiem for a Dream” (2000), “Black Swan” (2010) and “Mother!” (2017). For his work on “Black Swan,” Aronofsky was nominated for the best director Oscar, while Portman ended up winning the best actress award.
Musk first rose to prominence when he founded SpaceX, a spacecraft manufacturing company, in 2002. He was also an early investor in Tesla, and eventually climbed the ranks to become the automotive giant’s chairman (a position he stepped down from in 2018 after he was sued by the SEC), product architect and CEO. Most recently, Musk made the controversial decision to purchase Twitter for $44 billion, rebranding it to X. Since taking over the social media platform, Musk has made several changes that have resulted in backlash, including laying off a large number of the company’s employees, charging users for verification and removing headlines from links shared on the site.
Puck was the first to report the news of the film.
