One of the most buzzed-about films of the year is “Don’t Look Up,” and now it’s a four-time Oscar nominee for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Score. As the Netflix satire explores the topic of politicians dismissing the impending climate crisis, you can bet it received its fair share of lovers — and haters — online. But now “Don’t Look Up” is getting the last laugh after being embraced by the academy. Earlier this awards season, director Adam McKay addressed the chatter by telling me and my co-senior editor Rob Licuria, “I actually love the controversy; I actually love the debate.” Watch our exclusive video interview below.
“I think critics and I think film fans should be challenging this movie and we should be asking questions about how we tell stories,” McKay added. “During the seismic times that we’re living through, these are times like no other. I’m 53 years old and I’ve never seen times like these, so the passion that I saw and the anger from some viewers of the movie have been incredible, but at the same time, the overwhelming response has been positive.”
SEE Adam McKay on potential Oscar nominations for Netflix’s ‘Don’t Look Up’: ‘It would mean a lot to me’
Though Netflix is usually tight-lipped about its viewing data, the streamer has confirmed that “Don’t Look Up” is its second most watched movie of all time, behind only “Red Notice.” It features an eye-popping A-list cast, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence playing astronomers who discover a comet barreling toward Earth, and Meryl Streep and Jonah Hill portraying the politicians who don’t believe them or simply don’t care. The cast was recently honored at the SAG Awards in the film ensemble category. “Don’t Look Up” also scored precursor bids at the BAFTAs and eight guilds.
McKay wrote the original screenplay for “Don’t Look Up” based on a story from he and David Sirota. This bid at the 2022 Oscars now marks McKay’s third overall nomination in the writing categories following noms for 2015’s “The Big Short” (adapted screenplay, which he won) and 2018’s “Vice” (original screenplay, which he lost).
Film editor Hank Corwin is no stranger to the Oscars, earning prior bids for “The Big Short” and “Vice.” His “Don’t Look Up” editing stands apart from the competition in that it cuts between many different characters and settings and employs the same wild, bombastic stylings familiar to fans of McKay’s previous movies.
Two-time Oscar nominee Nicholas Britell (“Moonlight,” “If Beale Street Could Talk”) describes his original score for “Don’t Look Up” as “the sound of the reverence for logic and knowledge and science.” As he explains in our recent interview, he countered that theme with an “absurdist big band” score that illustrates what would happen if humanity doesn’t “muster the forces to solve our [climate crisis] problems.”
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