What Does Adam McKay of “Don’t Look Up” Think of Hollywood’s Role in Climate Action?
What Does Adam McKay of “Don’t Look Up” Think of Hollywood’s Role in Climate Action?
By Cody Simms
A Live MCJ Event with Adam McKay on April 6
By Cody Simms
Adam McKay is unafraid to go after big issues. His film The Big Short tackled the complexity of the 2008 financial crisis and won the Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). His film Vice tackled Dick Cheney’s journey to the White House and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. He’s also unafraid of comedy, with films like Anchorman and Talladega Nights in his credits. And his newest project, Winning Time, tackles the rise of the 1980s showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers.
But it was his film Don’t Look Up at the end of last year that got the climate community really talking. Don’t Look Up — starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, and Meryl Streep — set Netflix’s record for the most views in a single week and became the second highest Netflix streaming debut of all time with 360 million hours of viewing in it’s first 28 days. And Don’t Look Up is a satirical take on the political response to climate change — becoming arguably the most impactful climate change film since Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in 2006. And, with deepest respects to excellent climate change novels like The Ministry for the Future and The Overstory, the gargantuan reach of Netflix’s platform mean Don’t Look Up is arguably the most mainstream work of climate change fiction to date.
On top of all of this, McKay worked closely with Netflix to make Don’t Look Up into a film that you don’t just watch but one that encourages you to act. They launched the Don’t Look Up Climate Platform that offers all of us various ways to roll up our sleeves and get involved in climate action.
Don’t Look Up is not without controversy. Many in the climate community have pointed out that the film’s comet hurling toward earth is improper metaphor for climate change. McKay has been outspoken about climate doom in ways that have been controversial. But motivating action is clearly core to his reason for making the film; he’s even said his “fever dream” scenario is the film causing West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to “feel it in his bones”.
And all of this is why we are thrilled to share a new format we’re trying here at MCJ in partnership with Climate Changemakers.
Please join us on Wednesday, April 6, at 8pm EDT / 5pm PDT for MCJ Action with Adam McKay. We’ll host a 40 minute live virtual fireside chat with Adam about his motivations for making Don’t Look Up, his views on Hollywood’s role in motivating climate action, and his perspectives on what more we can all do. And then Eliza Nemser from Climate Changemakers will host a live action session with him where he’ll call his US Senators with a personalized climate ask and have the audience do the same.
Please join us; RSVP here for free.
✍️The Draw-down
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📢Climate Action of the Week
Want to do more? Sign up for the next Climate Changemakers Hour of Action here.
Your state legislators have a ton of influence with your members of Congress and can be leveraged as advocates on your behalf. In fact, members of Congress report that a conversation with state legislators ranks second only to a direct constituent meeting in its ability to affect policy decision-making. Use our Engage Your State Legislators playbook to send a specific, personalized message urging them to help get new fossil fuel projects banned on public lands.
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✨ Highlights
🤝MCJ is hiring! We’re looking for a Content and Social Media Lead to focus on all things MCJ Podcast, newsletter, and social media! Check out the job description here.
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For more open positions, check out the #j-climatejobs channel in MCJ Slack.
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