DiCaprio on Conveying the Plight of Scientists Warning of Planet-Killing Bad News

The star of "Don't Look Up" explores the challenges of communicating planet-scale outcomes to harried humans

Here's a followup to my overview of the provocative, prickly, playful new Adam McKay planetary apocalypse satire "Don't Look Up." Read that piece here.

Given the focus of Sustain What on communication issues and opportunities related to the climate change challenge, I thought it worth posting more from the press interview with Leonardo DiCaprio and other cast members that followed a screening this week. In the film, DiCaprio plays tenured Michigan State astronomy professor Randall Mindy - a scientist unraveling as he is pulled into the Paul Revere spotlight from his dusty corner of astronomical science.

Climate storytelling

DiCaprio said something valuable about the challenge of engaging the public meaningfully with a looming planetary disruption like human-driven global warming, and McKay's choice, as writer and director, to condense the issues into a comet strike:

"He's taking a real chance with this film. It’s really a very tough tight rope to manage from a cinematic perspective. I've been looking for a project to do about climate change for decades now. But it's nearly impossible to do something with that narrative and he cracked the code by creating this sense of urgency and tension and seeing the hysteria with all of our characters - these scientists, these politicians, the media - trying to react to what do we do to survive. And he did it within a six-month time period as opposed to a climate movie, which could only be throughout decades."

Scientists as messengers

DiCaprio, noting that he's worked with many scientists on his climate documentaries, says he built on their emotions in portraying Randall Mindy and saw shades of youth climate activist Greta Thunberg in Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of his grad student, Kate Dibiasky:

"Scientists get frustrated when they have to try to articulate their life's work and science and urgency about a certain issue on what's going to happen to all of us. [Adam McKay] had these seeds within the script of him having anxiety, taking Xanax constantly, also becoming a Fauciesque figure that tries to work within this insane political system.... Whereas Kate's character is more like Greta Thunberg - who just speaks loudly and openly and consistently and tries to penetrate to the truth - I try to work with the private sector, the powers that be, and sort of lose my way."

I do hope you'll watch the film, either in a theater now or on Netflix after December 24, and report in with your views!

Here's a portion of the interview, which was conducted by the actor and writer Josh Horowitz and also included Meryl Streep and Jonah Hill:

I also encourage you to read a story by my longtime New York Times science-writing colleague Dennis Overbye exploring how "Don't Look Up" echoes some real-life newsroom drama he faced in 1998. An astronomer had calculated that an asteroid was going to come within 30,000 miles of Earth in an approach in 2028 - way too close for comfort. The headline on Dennis's essay says it all: "How Do You Tell the World That Doomsday Has Arrived?"

Postscript: Do read David Roberts' great Volts review of the film. Here's a tiny snippet but every word is worth your while:

The movie is about having knowledge but being unable to make the knowledge matter, being unable to make anyone hear or act on it. By compressing the timeline to six months and making the threat a singular force, visible in the sky, it brings the absurdity of the situation to the surface. It’s hilarious, and if you’ve spent years banging your head against a wall trying to get people to pay attention to climate change, you will find a great deal of catharsis in the laughter.

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