Since largely leaving the more madcap world of Anchorman and similar films for the sharper satire of The Big Short and Vice, Adam McKay has turned his attention to subjects that blend comedy with timely issues and worries. Fear will still be a big part of his work going forward, as he's aiming to next direct a film about an impending meteor strike called Don't Look Up.
While the movie is still at the scripting stage, Deadline did get him to spill a quick outline: "Two mid-level astronomers discover a meteorite will destroy earth in six months and must go on a media tour to warn mankind." And, according to the writer/producer/director, it's a "dark satire in the school of Wag The Dog, Dr. Strangelove and Network and if it is half as good as any of them, I will be happy," he says.
He's also been busy setting up the next stage of his producing life after winding down the Gary Sanchez company he ran for more than a decade with Will Ferrell. He now has Hyperobject Industries, which has a healthy deal in place with HBO (where he was part of the team that launched Succession) and a first-look agreement with Paramount, which backed The Big Short. He has a variety of projects in the works, including podcasts, a Black Mirror-style consequences-of-climate-change drama called Uninhabitable Earth and a miniseries about corrupt financier Jeffrey Epstein.