FX and The New York Times Announce Elon Musk Exposé Documentary (TV News Roundup)

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.

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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:

TRAILERS

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.

DATES

HBO and A24’s upcoming limited series “Irma Vep” will debut on June 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, in addition to streaming on HBO Max. Prior to that, the series will premiere as an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival, which begins May 17. Written and directed by Emmy nominee Olivier Assayas, the series stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander as Mira, an American movie star who is struggling in her career. After a recent breakup, she moves to France to star in a remake of the French silent film “Les Vampires,” and struggles as fiction and reality blur together. The series also stars Vincent Macaigne as René Vidal, Jeanne Balibar as Zoe, Devon Ross as Regina, Lars Eidinger as Gottfried, Vincent Lacoste as Edmond Lagrange, Nora Hamzawi as Carla, Adria Arjona as Laurie, Carrie Brownstein as Zelda, Tom Sturridge as Eamonn, Byron Bowers as Herman, Fala Chen as Cynthia Keng, Hippolyte Girardot as Robert Danjou, Alex Descas as Gregory Desormeaux, Antoine Reinartz as Jeremie. The series is executive produced by Assayas, Vikander, Sylvie Barthet, Daniel Delume, Ravi Nandan, Hallie Sekoff, Kevin Turen, Stuart Manashil, Sam Levinson and Ashley Levinson.

DEVELOPMENT

The Eurovision Song Contest — which was recently adapted Stateside as “American Song Contest” — is coming to Canadian audiences via Insight Productions and the former producers of the annual show. “Eurovision Canada” will debut in 2023, welcoming musical artists and bands from each of the country’s 10 provinces and three territories. The launch was revealed on Monday by “Eurovision Canada” rights owners and ASC Inc. producers Anders Lenhoff, Christer Björkman, Ola Melzig, Peter Settman, Greg Lipstone; Insight CEO and chairman John Brunton; and Eurovision Canada showrunner and Insight executive Lindsay Cox. The format of the show positions the artists head-to-head against other provincial/territorial representatives in a series of televised qualifier competitions, leading to a semi-final and the ultimate primetime grand finale.

EXECS

Tony Sabistina has been tapped to serve as senior vice president of development at Tomorrow Studios. Prior to joining the company, he served of head of scripted development at Gaspin Media, working on shows such as “The First Lady,” “LA’s Finest” and “Tinder Swindler.” At Tomorrow Studios, he will develop programming for the company with a focus on global content, and will work closely with CEO Marty Adelstein and president Becky Clements.

LATE NIGHT

Bill Hader and Mo Amer will guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this Monday, while Chrissy Teigen, Cristin Milioti and musical guest Soccer Mommy will appear on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” “Late Night With Seth Meyers” will feature Terry Crews, Vanessa Bayer and musical guest Sam Fender, while “The Late Late Show With James Corden” will feature Henry Winkler, Wyatt Russell and Lara Beitz.

(Manori Ravindran contributed to this report.)

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