Elon Musk, who appears to contemplate himself a comic, has opined that “Essentially the most entertaining consequence is the almost definitely.”

So it appeared cheap to ask Grok, the artificial-intelligence chatbot from Musk’s xAI startup that final month grew to become 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 purpose, in response to the AI bot, is the shock issue: Casting Baron Cohen “can be sudden in a manner that will generate buzz. Followers won’t see it coming, and the distinction between Cohen’s typical characters and Musk’s tech mogul persona might present a comedic goldmine,” Grok mentioned.

Final 12 months got here information {that a} biopic of Musk, to be directed by filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and primarily based on Walter Isaacson’s licensed biography of the tech mogul, is within the works at A24. No casting for the venture has been introduced — however the guessing recreation has been beneath manner on who would possibly land the function of Musk within the film.

With Baron Cohen, “Musk’s public persona, with its mix of genius eccentricity, and controversy, could possibly be ripe for the sort of satirical therapy [Baron Cohen] excels at,” in response to Grok. “Think about [Baron Cohen’s] tackle Musk’s tweets, interviews, or public appearances — it will doubtless be each entertaining and insightful.” As well as, per Grok, Baron Cohen’s reward for bodily comedy might “be utilized to magnify Musk’s mannerisms, his peculiar manner of talking, and even his notable moments like driving the Cybertruck or the Tesla Roadster into area.”

Within the Musk-casting recreation, Grok additionally famous that Canadian actor Kevin Durand (“The Pressure,” “X-Males Origins: Wolverine”) has been “a well-liked selection resulting from 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 were floated for the function, together with Nicolas Cage (whose skill to carry “distinctive, manic power to roles” might “seize Musk’s reported temperament”), Robert Downey Jr. (steered partly as a result of Musk had a short 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 mentioned 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.”

Word that Musk has expressed an affinity for Baron Cohen’s work. In keeping with Musk, Baron Cohen’s 2012 movie “The Dictator” offered 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 through which 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 frightening.” Equally, Musk advised his engineers that Starship must be “extra pointy”: “I assumed it will be humorous to make it extra pointy, so we did,” he advised Rogan.

And in 2020, greater than two years earlier than Musk purchased Twitter, the tech billionaire replied to Baron Cohen’s tweet about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg — through which the actor mentioned, “Why can we let 1 man management the knowledge 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 lately starred alongside Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in Alfonso Cuarón’s Apple TV+ thriller sequence “Disclaimer,” which premiered on the Venice Movie Competition 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 “Women First.”