Two Tampa entrepreneurs are serving as executive producers of ELON, a feature film focused on the years when Tesla struggled to survive and Elon Musk was still trying to convince investors, employees and customers that the electric-vehicle company had a future.
Nick Friedman, co-founder of College HUNKS Hauling Junk, and Punit Shah, chief executive of Tampa-based family office Liberty Group and a co-owner of the Miami Marlins, have joined the film’s production team and appear in the cast. Producers released the first trailer this week ahead of a planned theatrical release this fall.
Produced by entrepreneur and filmmaker Armando Gutierrez and directed by Julien Lasseur, the film centers on a period when Tesla faced cash shortages, leadership disputes and persistent questions about whether the company could remain solvent. Those struggles unfolded years before Musk became one of the world’s most recognizable business figures through Tesla, SpaceX and other ventures.
Friedman said the film appealed to him because it focuses on a stage of entrepreneurship that is often overlooked after a company’s success becomes part of the public record.
“What drew me to this story was the entrepreneurial journey,” Friedman said. “At its core, this isn’t just a film about Elon Musk. It’s a film about conviction, resilience, resourcefulness and what it takes to pursue an idea when almost everyone tells you it can’t be done.”
The same period resonated with Shah, whose firm has invested across real estate, hospitality, private equity and structured capital. He said the story reflects the uncertainty that often accompanies building companies and investing in businesses before their prospects become clear.
“I’ve spent my career building, buying and betting on businesses when the outcome was anything but certain,” Shah said. “Elon’s story is the purest version of that, relentless drive and a willingness to risk everything on an idea the world had written off.”
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Both executives also appear on screen. Shah plays Musk’s defense attorney, while Friedman joins a cast that includes entrepreneurs, creators and social media personalities. The project reunites Friedman and Gutierrez, who previously worked together on BEZOS: The Beginning, a film about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Gutierrez, who portrays Musk, said the film concentrates on the years before Tesla became a global automaker and before Musk became a household name.
“Whether you admire Elon Musk, disagree with him, or simply find him fascinating, it’s impossible to deny his impact on modern history,” Gutierrez said. “This film focuses on the entrepreneur before the mythology, the risk-taker who repeatedly bet everything on a vision that many believed would fail.”
Producers plan a limited theatrical release this fall before pursuing broader distribution through streaming and digital platforms.
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