For DontLookUp, Adam McKay moved away from his signature handheld filmmaking style for a more conventional look - why? 🤔 'The world feels like it's pummeling you with punches while at the same time, pretending to be very classically composed.' 👍
The director of Don't Look Up, Adam McKay, reveals why he made changes to his signature filming style for his latest sci-fi-comedy feature. The Netflix feature stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as astronomers Dr. Randall Mindy and Kate Dibiasky, respectively.
The plot of Don't Look Up revolves around DiCaprio and Lawrence's Michigan State astronomers as they discover a potentially planet-destroying comet and subsequently embark on a large-scale media tour to warn humanity of the fast-approaching threat. With the imminent danger of the comet looming in the background, the film unfolds as a satire of the indifference of the media and the government.
With Don't Look Up, I made the choice very early on not to do the docu-style handheld. I kept it a little cleaner, a little bolder. We tended to use slightly wider lenses to let the characters' faces really hit on the screen. I wanted it to have a little pop of colour and energy. And if you look at our framing, it's fairly traditional.
Adam McKay is well-known for prominently utilizing the handheld camera style for most of his films, made more evident by the fact that he cites American director Paul Greengrass and English filmmaker Michael Winterbottom as his main sources of inspiration. He mentions that, since his 2006 directorial effort Talladega Nights, he has constantly attempted to enhance his style of filmmaking with each project by"shooting as well as we possibly can.
McKay is responsible for making some of the best comedy films of the last few decades, with the likes of 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, 2008's Step Brothers, and 2010's The Other Guys. However, 2015's The Big Short marked a turning point in his career as the Oscar-winning film presented him with the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, such as Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.