The writers’ strike ending weeks ago means projects are back in development. Variety has now confirmed, from a story that Puck reported, that a new biopic is in development at A24 that will depict the life of the controversial Tesla Motors CEO and owner of Twitter, now called X, Elon Musk. The project also already has a director attached, with The Whale‘s Darren Aronofsky on board to tell the story of the tech billionaire. The movie is set to use Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography as a source for the film’s script. There hasn’t yet been a writer announced to pen the screenplay.
There are sources that have told Variety that there was an intense bidding war for the option of adapting Isaacson’s book. The famed indie studio A24, is said to have emerged as the victor. Aronofsky, having worked with both Mickey Rourke and Brendan Fraser in big comeback vehicles, could use this as a new opportunity to bring back another actor who had been left out of the spotlight for one reason or another. But who could play Elon Musk?
Isaacson had similarly written a biography of another controversial tech figure, Apple’s former CEO, Steve Jobs. His Steve Jobs book was used as the basis for the script from the intricate wordsmith Aaron Sorkin. Steve Jobs was helmed by Danny Boyle and sported an all-star cast led by Michael Fassbender. It’s likely that the Musk film could be adapted into a similar character drama as the X-man has a mixed reputation characteristic of being a cutthroat businessman with grandiose ideas, and his vision often comes at a disservice to many people.
Last year, while Aronofsky was promoting his latest film, The Whale, which starred Brendan Fraser in a major comeback performance, he spoke of the possibility of making a musical for a future project. While he sat down with The A.V. Club, Aronofsky said, “I would love to and I’ve talked to many people about it. And I’ve come close to a few ideas. It’s a very tricky thing because music from musicals is not popular music anymore. So what do you do? I think Hamilton was brilliant because Lin-Manuel Miranda fused hip-hop with musical music. And so he had this breakthrough that was really brilliant. But figuring that angle of it, of what the music would be, where it comes from, is the big challenge. But I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it. And hopefully one day I could figure something out.”