A host of high-profile films premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday, among them Alex Gibney’s documentary on Elon Musk, a psychological thriller featuring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, and a drama directed by Casey Affleck.

Running nearly four hours, intermission included, "Musk" serves as both a portrait of the world's richest man and an inquiry into the reach of his power and influence.

Gibney, an Oscar-winning filmmaker who has previously profiled formidable organizations and individuals—from Enron and Elizabeth Holmes to Scientology—said he began with a certain admiration and hoped Musk might agree to an interview.

"Ultimately, he didn't want to talk to me," Gibney said.

"Then you start examining the facts and follow them wherever they lead.

For me, they led to a place that shattered the myth, I'd say, of Elon Musk as a kind of modern-day Leonardo da Vinci."

The film is scheduled to premiere in North American theaters this October.

“Musk” was hardly the only film with billionaires on its mind.

“Bunker,” written and directed by Florian Zeller, follows a celebrated architect (Bardem) who is approached to design a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire (Paul Dano) in Hawaii.

His wife (Cruz), a literary editor, questions her husband for even considering such a project.

'Bunker' engages with several pressing contemporary themes — anxieties about the future, ecological threats, widening social inequality, and pervasive individualism — but it does so through a deeply personal lens: a couple struggling with each other," Zeller said in his director's statement.

"I wanted to explore love, fidelity, and forgiveness while placing the audience in a position of deliberate ambiguity."

Zeller wrote the film, drawing on a real story he had encountered, specifically for his stars, whose on-screen collaborations date back to “Jamón Jamón.”

“I regard them as among the finest actors of their generation,” Zeller remarked.

It was also, he noted, a distinctive means of capturing an authentic dimension of a relationship.

Cruz expressed her delight that the film, featuring dialogue in both English and Spanish, authentically captured the dynamics of a bilingual household.

The family depicted in the film, who uprooted from Madrid with their children, reside in London yet maintain Spanish as their language of choice at home.

“It is remarkable how profoundly that has shifted,” she observed.

Audiences, she said, had always been receptive, yet persuading financiers and producers to come on board had proven an uphill struggle until recently.

Stephen Graham and Patrick Schwarzenegger are also set to appear in “Bunker,” which Searchlight Pictures has slated for a theatrical release in early next year.

The film is competing in the main lineup alongside titles such as “Wild Horse Nine” and “Ink,” and, like them, it ranks among the potential award contenders in the Venice slate, with a qualifying run anticipated in 2026.

Zeller’s film “The Father” earned Anthony Hopkins the best actor Oscar, and Zeller also took home the award for his screenplay.

Also debuting is "Company," a meditation on grief and compassion with a gothic element, which Affleck directed and co-wrote.

The film, which is seeking distribution, begins in winter 1975, when a mysterious woman crashes a holiday gathering.

The story then opens itself to several others.

“It’s not explicitly a political movie,” Affleck said.

“But I’m not impervious to the world around me, so I was responding in part to all of the sort of raging conflicts in the world, and to things inside myself.”

The film showcases Nick Nolte and Ben Mendelsohn in principal roles, while Affleck's offspring, Atticus Affleck and Indiana Affleck, are also included in the ensemble.

“Neither of them was genuinely keen to be involved in this production,” Affleck remarked of his children.

“I suspect they were raised amidst it, developed a certain curiosity about it, and possessed an intuitive grasp of what it entailed....

Their performance was extraordinary, making it the most rewarding professional experience of my life by far, as I had the chance to spend every working day with my children and enjoy their company; if given the opportunity, I would gladly repeat it.

I doubt they would allow it, but I intend to try.

Affleck dedicated the film to his parents, both of whom also appear in “Company” and who passed away this year.

He noted that they never had the opportunity to see it.

“Company” is likewise vying for the Golden Lion.

The victors, selected by the jury presided over by Maggie Gyllenhaal, will be revealed on Saturday.