Adam McKay shared in an interview with NME that his comedy movie Don’t Look Up reached an estimated 400 million to 500 million viewers on Netflix. He mentioned this even though the film faced a lot of criticism from reviewers and cultural leaders.
While discussing topics like the L.A. fires and climate change, McKay brought up Don’t Look Up. He and the film’s star-studded cast, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, had openly said during the movie’s 2021 release that it symbolized the dangers of climate change.
Adam McKay reflected on how Don’t Look Up connected with audiences despite facing harsh criticism.
In the face of these dramatic catastrophes that keep happening, a movie seems really small and ridiculous. But what was inspiring and energizing was the popular response to that movie, not the critics and the cultural gatekeepers who hated it,
he said
The movie reached number one in around 85 countries, including Pakistan, Vietnam, the U.S., and Uruguay. McKay pointed out that this is rare for a comedy, which usually doesn’t work as well across different cultures.
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Adam McKay talked about how many people connected with Don’t Look Up.
The estimates of how many people saw that movie – Netflix will never say exactly – but it’s somewhere between 400 million and half a billion. Viewers all really connected with the idea of being gaslit. Being lied to by their leaders, lied to by their big news media, and being lied to by industries, It was funny – when I realized that was the common connection point, I was like, of course! It’s happening everywhere now with this global neo-liberal economy that we’re all living in. It’s such a cancer and everyone is feeling it.
he said and explained that this idea resonated worldwide
Don’t Look Up stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as two astronomers trying to warn Americans about a giant comet that will destroy life on Earth. While many critics gave the movie negative reviews, it still became a big hit. It earned a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars and became Netflix’s second most-watched original film with 171.4 million views.
When the movie came out on Netflix, Adam McKay faced backlash for defending it. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that some of the negative reactions were “utterly ridiculous” and added, “If you don’t have at least a small ember of anxiety about the climate collapsing (or the U.S. teetering), I’m not sure Don’t Look Up makes any sense.” Some people accused him of suggesting that critics who disliked the movie didn’t care about climate change.
Adam McKay explained how some people misunderstood his comments about Don’t Look Up.
Someone jumped on and said, ‘Oh, you’re saying if we don’t like the movie we don’t care about the climate,’ which is utterly ridiculous. No human being would ever say that,
he told IndieWire
McKay found the situation ironic, saying it felt like a scene from the movie itself.
Suddenly, it became like I was saying critics can’t say anything, and of course they can. It’s important to have debate and passionate critics,
he added.
To read McKay’s full interview, visit NME’s website.