Adam McKay knows a thing or two about having his finger on the pulse of what modern audiences want to see from their studio comedies, having steered Will Ferrell vehicles Anchorman, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers and The Other Guys to box office success and a place in the pop culture pantheon.
Since his less-than-amicable split with Ferrell, he’s branched out to become an awards season favorite after helming razor-sharp and blackly comedic sociopolitical satires Vice and The Big Short. McKay’s upcoming Netflix release Don’t Look Up is set to balance the best of both worlds, at least if the early reactions are any indication.
The disaster comedy has been singled out as a potential Academy Awards contender in virtually all of the major categories, while it’s also been praised and lauded for the outright hilarity on display. Speaking to Deadline, the filmmaker revealed that he approached Don’t Look Up with inspiration from the Marx brothers and the Three Stooges.
“It’s almost like an old Marx Brothers movie or Three Stooges, where clearly there are mice loose at the opera premiere, but they’ve got to cover it up. And the mice are swarming everywhere.”
The star-studded ensemble have also been coming in for acclaim, which is no surprise when you consider the caliber of talent on display. Don’t Look Up comes to select theaters next Friday before it rolls out on streaming from December 24, where it’s sure to entertain millions of subscribers over the festive period and beyond.
