Right on the heels of the news that Elon Musk is nearing a deal to buy Twitter, a television documentary about the polarizing businessman has been announced to premiere this May.
Titled “Elon Musk’s Crash Course,” the upcoming film is the latest in FX and The New York Times’ collaborative documentary series “The New York Times Presents,” which provides in depth looks at prominent people and events, ranging from Janet Jackson to Juul to the 2020 Australian bushfire disasters. The series is best known for its two in-depth films about Britney Spears, “Framing Britney Spears” and “Controlling Britney Spears,” which helped contribute to the eventual end of the singer’s conservatorship.
Directed by Emma Schwartz, “Elon Musk’s Crash Course” is an exposé into Musk’s company Tesla, and its work on self-driving cars. Featuring the reporting from Cade Metz and Neal Boudette of The New York Times, the film will dive into how Tesla’s Autopilot program has resulted in several deaths that Musk and the company has yet to publicly acknowledge, and details Musk’s efforts to kill government investigations into the incidents. Several former Tesla employees will be featured in the documentary, speaking out against Musk for the first time.
Schwartz produces the film, which is executive produced by Ken Druckerman, Banks Tarver, Mary Robertson, Jason Stallman, Sam Dolnick, Stephanie Preiss and “New York Times Presents” showrunner Esther Dere. Liz Day is Supervising Producer, and Rachel Abrams is Senior Producer. “The New York Times Presents” is produced by The New York Times and Red Arrow Studios company Left/Right.
“Elon Musk’s Crash Course” will premiere May 20, and will stream simultaneously on FX and Hulu.
Also in today’s TV news roundup:
The first trailer for “Make or Break,” the new Apple TV+ seven-part documentary series, has been released. The series delivers behind-the-scenes access to the world’s best surfers as they compete at the World Surf League Championship Tour. “Make or Break” will feature interviews from internationally renown surfers, including 11-time world champion and 56-time career victory winner Kelly Slater, seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore, three-time world champion Gabriel Medina, two-time world champion Tyler Wright, 2019 World Champion and Olympic gold medalist Italo Ferreira and 2021 Olympian Tatiana Weston-Webb. Other notable surfers in the series include Morgan Cibilic, Johanne Defay, Leonardo Fioravanti, Jeremy Flores, John John Florence, Filipe Toledo, Kanoa Igarashi, Matt McGillivray, Isabella Nichols and Jack Robinson. The docuseries is produced for Apple by Box to Box Films, in partnership with the World Surf League. Executive producers include Oscar and BAFTA winner James Gay-Rees, BAFTA nominee Paul Martin, WSL CEO Erik Logan and Ryan Holcomb. “Make or Break” will premiere on Friday, April 29 on Apple TV+. The series has also received an early season two renewal. Watch the full trailer below.