Robert De Niro attended a New York screening of Alex Gibney's documentary "Musk" on Sunday and told a room full of Academy members that "in the fight between Musk's money and democracy, democracy won. This time." He added that, like the Cybertruck, "Musk isn't going anywhere," per Deadline.
Name the machine. A four-hour documentary about the world's richest man screens at a Manhattan hotel on a Sunday. A room full of Academy members is in the audience, because an awards season is running and the film already won a Critics Choice Documentary Award. And who walks out to deliver the political zinger at the perfect moment? An icon doing Oscar warmups in front of the people who hand out the trophies. The screening was a film event. The film event was a press event. The press event was the week's political statement, timed to land the same week the billionaire's preferred candidates lost the midterms.
The line about democracy winning "this time" is the exact sentence a donor reads in the program. His co-founder Jane Rosenthal did the Sun Tzu bit, "know your enemy," five minutes into a room that mostly came for the popcorn. Gibney thanked De Niro "for everything you've done for the resistance," which is what people say when the check is written and the room is warm.
The film itself is doing fine, by the way. Over $700,000 domestic on a four-hour runtime, VOD wide, a festival circuit that reads like a resume. The jab at Musk is free marketing, and it's the only marketing that costs the subject nothing. De Niro closed with "spread the word," which is how you ask a room full of voters for a VOD rental.
YOUR TURN: "Spread the word" after a political speech. Was that a political ask or a rental link? Be honest.
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