In just six months, a comet will collide with Earth. The shock will be comparable to that which preceded the extinction of the dinosaurs. In other words, the days of humanity are numbered, unless there is swift action on the part of governments. However, both the political power and a significant part of the population seem determined not to take the threat seriously despite the scientific evidence. From this disaster scenario, director Adam McKay drew a fierce satire starring Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Meryl Streep and titled Don’t Look Up (Don’t Look Up. Cosmic denial).
The film is in fact a brilliant allegory, as Leonardo DiCaprio points out at the outset during a virtual conference organized by Netflix. “Adam created a film that basically talks about the climate crisis. But he instilled a sense of urgency in it by focusing his remarks on a comet that is going to destroy the Earth. To write the film with him, Adam McKay called on journalist and political advisor David Sirota, who notably worked with Bernie Sanders in 2020.
“We were discussing how we could go about dealing with the overwhelming subject of the climate crisis, the greatest threat to mankind,” says McKay. Laughter provides a certain distance. One can feel the urgency, sadness or loss while still having a sense of humor. That was kind of the idea behind this film. The last five or ten years have been so trying on a planetary scale… We thought, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to laugh at some of these terrible things? The end of the world approach to the climate is quite legitimate, we agree, but humor has an incredible unifying power. “
Ode to science
Long involved in the fight against climate change, Leonardo DiCaprio says he immediately appreciated the satirical-allegorical approach.
“I had been looking for a film that would address these questions for decades. Adam really managed to break the code with this narrative by finding the right comparisons between the climate threat and the comet threat. I was grateful to play a character based on so many people in the scientific community that I have met over time, especially climate scientists. People who try to communicate the urgency of this issue, but who see themselves relegated to the last page of the newspaper. “
The actor believes in this regard that the scientific community is being abused, and that the film does useful work. Jennifer Lawrence adds: “It’s so sad and frustrating to see people who have dedicated their lives to learning the truth get rejected because you don’t like what the truth has to say. “
In the film, the truth probably has no worse enemy than the President of the United States, aka Meryl Streep. The actress doesn’t name explicit influences, but it feels like a merger between Donald Trump and Sarah Palin. The result is as much laughing as shuddering. “There were so many possible sources, because there are so many absurd people in public office, shameless… It was fun to compose this character who just wants to amass power and money, and again more power and more money. That’s all his appetite demands. That, and having pretty nails and hair. The sacrifices that political life demands are such that it is almost only these people who go there. It’s a miracle that sometimes we still have good people coming forward. We need it now, more than ever. “
The character of Meryl Streep is in this case at the heart of the scene that most chilled Tyler Perry, who plays a superficial animator.
“There’s this passage in the Oval Office, where Meryl’s character is there with Jonah.” [Hill, qui joue son fils et conseiller en chef], and she rejects the scientific facts out of hand, just like that… We were shooting in the middle of a pandemic, people would die… And there are people like that who oppose their untruths… This sequence is frightening. “
Conversely, for Jonah Hill, the most horrifying scene is when, during the recording of the morning show piloted by Perry and Cate Blanchett, the level of interest in the discovery of the destructive comet is equal, even inferior to the marital status of a pop singer.
“Adam maintains an impossible balance in this film, which is to bring terrifying elements together and use comedy in a way that makes them digestible, acceptable or even entertaining. The whole movie is terrifying and hilarious, ”notes Jonah Hill.
In the end, arguably the wisest words of the conference were spoken by the film’s moderator and scientific advisor, astronomer Amy Mainzer: “Science gives us the facts, but art is what enables us. to process the emotions and feelings associated with these facts. “
What accomplishes brilliantly Don’t Look Up.
Laughter on a cosmic scale