Elon Musk, who appears to consider himself a comedian, has opined that “Essentially the most entertaining consequence is the almost certainly.”
So it appeared cheap to ask Grok, the artificial-intelligence chatbot from Musk’s xAI startup that final month turned public to all customers on X (née Twitter): Who can be probably the most hilarious actor to painting Elon Musk in your opinion?
The reply from Grok: Sacha Baron Cohen, the British comedic actor recognized for “Borat,” “Brüno” and his Ali G rude-boy character. One cause, in keeping with the AI bot, is the shock issue: Casting Baron Cohen “can be surprising in a means that may generate buzz. Followers may not see it coming, and the distinction between Cohen’s normal characters and Musk’s tech mogul persona may present a comedic goldmine,” Grok mentioned.
Final 12 months got here news that a biopic of Musk, to be directed by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and based mostly on Walter Isaacson’s approved biography of the tech mogul, is within the works at A24. No casting for the venture has been introduced — however the guessing game has been under way on who would possibly land the position of Musk within the film.
With Baron Cohen, “Musk’s public persona, with its mix of genius eccentricity, and controversy, might be ripe for the form of satirical remedy [Baron Cohen] excels at,” in keeping with Grok. “Think about [Baron Cohen’s] tackle Musk’s tweets, interviews, or public appearances — it will possible be each entertaining and insightful.” As well as, per Grok, Baron Cohen’s present for bodily comedy may “be utilized to magnify Musk’s mannerisms, his peculiar means of talking, and even his notable moments like driving the Cybertruck or the Tesla Roadster into house.”
Within the Musk-casting recreation, Grok additionally famous that Canadian actor Kevin Durand (“The Pressure,” “X-Males Origins: Wolverine”) has been “a preferred alternative on account of his bodily resemblance to Musk, with followers and commentators noting his potential to painting Musk’s eccentricities.”
The AI chatbot additionally talked about different actors which have been floated for the position, together with Nicolas Cage (whose skill to convey “distinctive, manic vitality to roles” may “seize Musk’s reported temperament”), Robert Downey Jr. (steered partly as a result of Musk had a quick look in “Iron Man 2” as himself), Rami Malek, Jon Hamm and Michael Fassbender (who “has expertise with biopics, notably taking part in Steve Jobs” in Danny Boyle’s 2015 biopic of the late Apple co-founder and CEO).
In the meantime, Isaacson said in an interview that Musk want to see himself performed by Benedict Cumberbatch. And Grok can be conscious of memesters snarkily suggesting Kathy Bates ought to painting Musk “for her bodily similarities to Musk.”
Observe that Musk has expressed an affinity for Baron Cohen’s work. In accordance with Musk, Baron Cohen’s 2012 movie “The Dictator” supplied inspiration for Musk on the pointy-tipped design of SpaceX’s Starship. On Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2021, Musk cited a scene within the film wherein Cohen’s titular dictator says of a nuclear missile “It’s too spherical on the highest. It must be pointy. Spherical will not be scary. Pointy is horrifying.” Equally, Musk told his engineers that Starship have to be “extra pointy”: “I assumed it will be humorous to make it extra pointy, so we did,” he informed Rogan.
And in 2020, greater than two years earlier than Musk bought Twitter, the tech billionaire replied to Baron Cohen’s tweet about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — wherein the actor mentioned, “Why can we let 1 man management the data seen by 2.5 billion individuals? Fb must be regulated by governments, not dominated by an emperor!” — saying, “#DeleteFacebook It’s lame.”
Baron Cohen, an Oscar-nominated actor and screenwriter, most not too long ago starred alongside Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ thriller collection “Disclaimer,” which premiered on the Venice Movie Pageant and was launched on the streaming service in October. Baron Cohen will subsequent be seen starring reverse Rosamund Pike within the upcoming Netflix romantic-comedy “Girls First.”
