Alex Gibney, the documentary filmmaker behind investigations into Enron, the Church of Scientology and the US intelligence apparatus, used the Venice Film Festival this week to describe the unusual obstacles he encountered while making his latest film: a feature-length examination of Elon Musk and what Gibney characterises as the billionaire's pursuit of a global right-wing agenda . A climate of fear, on the record Speaking at Venice, Gibney said that potential interviewees displayed what he described as an almost existential fear of speaking about Musk — an observation that itself became a thread running through the finished film. He did not name individuals who declined to participate, but the characterisation suggests that the difficulty of sourcing was not merely logistical. Gibney has previously documented powerful institutions whose subjects have attempted to forestall or discredit his work; he described this project as presenting a different and more pervasive kind of resistance. Gibney's filmography gives him a degree of credibility that independent documentary makers rarely command. His 2005 film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and his 2015 Scientology investigation Going Clear both drew legal and public-relations pressure from their subjects. He has not suggested that comparable formal pressure was applied during the making of the Musk film, though he indicated that the social and professional consequences feared by sources were sufficient to deter many from participating at all. St. Clair and the rejected NDA One figure who did agree to appear is Ashley St. Clair, who told the Venice audience that she had been offered what she described as a $40 million non-disclosure agreement, which she chose to reject in order to take part in the documentary. The precise nature of the agreement — who offered it, under what circumstances and on what terms — was not fully set out in available accounts of the festival discussion, and NajiyaDaily has not been able to