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Adam McKay on His Enduring Love for Will Ferrell and the “Insane” State of the World: “I’m Fully Freaked Out” - Hollywood Reporter
Dec 08, 2021 3 mins, 30 secs

The Hollywood Reporter's producer of the year weighs in on the 'Rust' tragedy ("That  set sounded sloppy"), the Dave Chappelle controversy and why the threat of climate change drove him to make his upcoming Netflix satirical dramedy, 'Don’t Look Up.'.

It was late October, and he’d just finished his new movie, Don’t Look Up.

McKay may not be able to single-handedly solve the climate crisis, but he’s in firm control of his new film, TV and podcast production company, Hyperobject Industries, headquartered in a small brick building just south of Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood.

10, when Netflix opens Don’t Look Up in select theaters, two weeks ahead of its streaming debut on Christmas Eve.

Put another way, the movie is about the failure of a social media-obsessed society to recognize real problems, like climate change.

He had recently dissolved his nearly 14-year partnership with Will Ferrell and their company, Gary Sanchez Productions, home of such famed comedies as the Anchorman franchise, Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers.

He also wanted to produce more, while Ferrell didn’t have the same ambitions.

At Gary Sanchez, McKay was a driving force behind the hit HBO show Succession, while offshoot Gloria Sanchez Productions, run by Jessica Elbaum, made Lorene Scafaria’s acclaimed film Hustlers.

(Elbaum and Ferrell now run Gloria Sanchez solo.).

All those things are rare qualities to have in the same person,” says producer Kevin Messick, who runs Hyperobject with McKay and is a Gary Sanchez alum.

McKay recently sat down with THR to talk about his plans, his lingering regret regarding Ferrell — he hopes they’ll be able to resume their friendship one day — and what his next directing project might be.

Don’t Look Up is a dark comedy with horror elements.

He’s our spirit animal for the company.

The actors all look like the characters.

Reilly looks exactly like Dr.

Quincy Isaiah is unbelievably talented and looks just like Magic [Johnson].

The Lakers series began at Gary Sanchez, then went with you to Hyperobject.

Will Ferrell reportedly was upset to learn third hand that you had cast John C.

We made Don’t Look Up to hopefully get people talking about the climate crisis — literally the biggest threat to life in human history — and to see so much made about two comedy guys not talking about a TV show is a scary sign of our times.

I love Ferrell.

Big, powerful tectonic stuff started to happen: the financial collapse, the rise of the extreme right wing, the climate crisis and the soaring income inequality.

It became almost bizarre to do those old-style comedies and didn’t make sense at that point.

I was just very excited to go at things from a bunch of different directions, and, God bless Will Ferrell, he just didn’t have that same appetite that I had.

And he’s just like, “Well, I like producing a couple things, but I don’t know if I want to do 20 things.”.

What happened when you and Will Ferrell decided to split?

I kept trying to frame it like, “Hey, it’s OK.

It’s its natural conclusion,” but as I would say it, it didn’t quite feel right.

We’ve used blanks on our set, including on Don’t Look Up, and everything is quadruple-checked.

For a half a second, the rig didn’t operate properly and there was actual tension on the rope, but then it gave way and Will was OK?

How do you navigate working with a company like Netflix when something like the Dave Chappelle controversy happens.

Netflix is a carbon-zero company, and because they’re not a conglomerate, they don’t have the conflict of interest of having to watch out for different corporate arms, so they’re able to do a show like Squid Game, whereas maybe some other companies maybe wouldn’t be as comfortable.

But at the same time, I didn’t love the Chappelle thing.

You shot Don’t Look Up during the pandemic.

I feel like the climate crisis is the story of all stories in the history of stories.

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