Any film about Earthbound disasters have an extra resonance in 2020 – a year that’s felt more than a little apocalyptic, with more urgent warnings about climate-change, a looming Presidential election, and the small matter of a global pandemic. In short, it’s the perfect year for George Clooney’s The Midnight Sky. Returning both in front of and behind the camera for his latest film as director, Clooney's film follows a group of astronauts – led by Felicity Jones’ Sully – who are returning to Earth at the end of their mission. Except, since they’ve been gone, a mass-extinction event has trashed the planet – cue Clooney’s surviving Earth-bound astronomer Augustine attempting to warn them about returning to a home that’s too far gone.
Speaking to Empire in the November issue – on sale now – Clooney opened up about releasing a disaster drama in 2020, and explained how it already felt searingly relevant before the Covid-19 pandemic. “You know, when I got the script, there was already this feeling of climate change, of anger and hatred, the kind of undercurrents that do destroy society,” he says. “So it didn’t feel too far from home that if you play that out, in 20 years, this could be the outcome, that it’s all man-made. It’s the Cassius line: ‘The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars but in ourselves.’ It’s that – the idea that we cause these problems. And we can fix them. After finishing shooting and starting to edit, the world blew up with this virus, of course. Quite honestly, in some ways, it’s still man-made, even though the virus isn’t. The reaction to it has been less than stellar and made it worse – at least here in the United States.”
Read Empire’s full interview with Clooney in the new issue, on newsstands now and available to order online here. The Midnight Sky comes to Netflix in December.