Why Adam McKay’s apocalyptic satire ‘Don’t Look Up’ is a disaster movie for a disastrous moment

When Adam McKay thinks back on his many comedic collaborations with Will Ferrell, the one that feels most in tune with 2021 may not be what you’d expect.

“I would say the most prophetic turned out to be ‘Step Brothers’ — that’s the most like the world we’re living in,” McKay shared during a recent sit-down at his Los Angeles home.

“‘Step Brothers’ was a living cartoon when it came out, [and now] it’s literally true. When you see giant grown-ups screaming and kicking over furniture because they have to wear a mask, that’s actually more preposterous than ‘Step Brothers.’”

McKay was discussing how current events caught up with — and in many ways overtook — his idea for the upcoming Netflix-produced comedy “Don’t Look Up.” The contemporary disaster movie may not feature Ferrell, but its all-star cast rivals that of “The Towering Inferno” and “The Poseidon Adventure,” and its sharply honed satire is after more than apocalyptic thrills. It’s the next step in McKay’s ongoing cinematic evolution, which has already produced the Oscar-nominated “The Big Short” and “Vice.” (The filmmaker earned an adapted screenplay Oscar for the former.)

In “Don’t Look Up,” a pair of scientists (Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) discover a giant comet, which will collide with