An Elon Musk documentary and a Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem thriller
premiere at Venice
[September 09, 2026]
By LINDSEY BAHR
VENICE, Italy (AP) — A slew of high-profile films debuted Tuesday at the
Venice Film Festival, including Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary, a
psychological thriller with Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and a drama
from Casey Affleck.
With a runtime of nearly four hours, including an intermission, “Musk”
is a portrait of the world’s richest man and an investigation into the
scope of his power and influence. Gibney, an Oscar-winning filmmaker who
has profiled powerful organizations and people before, from Enron and
Elizabeth Holmes to Scientology, told The Associated Press that he
started off as a kind of admirer and hoped that Musk might sit down for
an interview.
“Ultimately he didn’t want to talk to me,” Gibney said. “Then you start
digging into the facts and you follow them where they lead. And where
they led for me was to a place that upended the myth, I would say, of
Elon Musk as a kind of modern Leonardo da Vinci.”
The film is expected in North American theaters in October.
Cruz and Bardem play a married couple
“Musk” wasn't the only film that had billionaires on its mind. “Bunker,”
written and directed by Florian Zeller, is about an acclaimed architect
(Bardem) who is approached about designing a survivalist bunker for a
tech billionaire (Paul Dano) in Hawaii. His wife (Cruz), a literary
editor, questions her husband for even considering such a project.
“‘Bunker’ touches on several times contemporary themes — fear of the
future, ecological threats, rising social inequality, and rampant
individualism — but it does so through a deeply personal lens: a couple
struggling with each other,” Zeller said in his director’s statement. “I
wanted to explore love, fidelity and forgiveness while placing the
audience in a position of deliberate ambiguity.”
Zeller wrote the film, inspired by a real story he read, for his stars
specifically, who have appeared together in films many times going back
to “Jamón Jamón.”
"I think they are among the greatest actors working today," Zeller said.
It was also, he said, a unique way to capture something true about a
relationship.
Cruz said she was very happy that the film, which is in both English and
Spanish, portrayed an authentic bilingual household. The family in the
film, who relocated from Madrid with their kids, live in London but
speak Spanish at home.
“It’s amazing how much that has changed,” she said.
Audiences, she said, were always ready for it but it was a challenge to
get financiers and producers to agree until recently.
[to top of second column]
|
Javier Bardem, left, and Penélope Cruz pose for photographers at the
red carpet for the film 'Bunker' during the 83rd edition of the
Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026.
(Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
 Stephen Graham and Patrick
Schwarzenegger also star in “Bunker” which Searchlight Pictures will
release in theaters early next year.
The film is playing in competition alongside titles such as “Wild
Horse Nine” and “Ink,” and, like them, it’s one of the possible
awards contenders in the Venice slate and is expected to have a
qualifying run in 2026. Zeller’s film “The Father” won Anthony
Hopkins a best actor Oscar. He also won for the screenplay.
Casey Affleck's meditation on grief and compassion
Also debuting is “Company,” a meditation on grief and compassion
with a gothic element, which Affleck directed and co-wrote. The
film, which is seeking distribution, begins in winter 1975, when a
mysterious woman crashes a holiday gathering. The story then opens
itself to several others.
“It’s not explicitly a political movie," Affleck said. “But I’m not
impervious to the world around me, so I was responding in part to
all of the sort of raging conflicts in the world, and to things
inside myself.”
The film stars Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn, and features Affleck’s
children Atticus Affleck and Indiana Affleck.
“Neither one of them really wanted to be a part of this production,"
Affleck said of his kids. "I think that they grew up around it and
had some interest in it and a sort of innate understanding of what
it was. ...
"They were amazing and it made it the best professional experience
of my life by far because I got to go to work every day with my kids
and hang around and I would do it over and over again if I could. I
don’t think that they will let me but I’m gonna try.”
Affleck dedicated the film to his parents, who both also appear in
“Company” and who died this year. He said they never got the chance
to see it.
“Company” is also in competition for the Golden Lion. Winners chosen
by the Maggie Gyllenhaal–led jury will be announced Saturday.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
