{"id":337165,"date":"2026-03-09T16:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/337165\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T16:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T16:13:08","slug":"climate-defiance-doc-just-look-up-enlists-adam-mckay-billie-eilish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/337165\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Defiance Doc ‘Just Look Up’ Enlists Adam McKay, Billie Eilish"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUPDATED to correct that a group called Extinction Rebellion, which shares some members with Climate Defiance<\/a>, claimed responsibility for the Broadway show interruption. EXCLUSIVE: They\u2019ve disrupted a high-profile charity baseball game and public appearances by politicians and fossil fuel company executives.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u201d are Climate Defiance, a group of young activists led by founder Michael Greenberg<\/a> who use controversial tactics to demand urgent action on the global warming crisis. The documentary Just Look Up<\/a>, premiering Wednesday at CPH:DOX<\/a> in Copenhagen, follows Greenberg as he turns his nascent organization into a growing force for climate action. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe film, a production of Final Cut For Real, is directed by Emma Wall<\/a> and Betsy Hershey<\/a> and produced by Natja Rosner and four-time Oscar nominee Signe Byrge S\u00f8rensen. Oscar winner Adam McKay<\/a>, who directed the 2021 satire titled Don\u2019t Look Up, serves as executive producer along with Oscar nominee Joshua Oppenheimer.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe have your first look at the film in the teaser below.<\/p>\n

\n\tA synopsis describes protagonist Michael Greenberg as a \u201cbrazen visionary\u201d and says of his group, \u201cIn the tradition of Gandhi\u2019s Satyagraha, the Civil Rights Movement, and ACT UP, they use radical nonviolent direct action to jolt society awake, calling out Big Oil, corporate CEOs, and the politicians who enable them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Climate<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClimate Defiance<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe film charts a motley, idealistic crew improvising, failing, regrouping, and pushing on to protect the planet,\u201d the synopsis continues. \u201cAs they press forward, the film\u2019s propulsive soundtrack is not background but fuel, with Chappell Roan, Doechii, and Billie Eilish pushing the pace and sharpening the stakes for a generation with no room to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t(At a performance of the Ibsen play An Enemy of the People on Broadway in March 2024, members of group called Extinction Rebellion \u2014 which shares some members in common with Climate Defiance \u2014 interrupted<\/a> actors Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli as they performed, one of the demonstrators shouting, \u201cNo theater on a dead planet!\u201d).<\/p>\n

\n\tJust Look Up directors Wall and Hershey previously collaborated on the 2023 short documentary Guerrilla Habeas.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust Look Up \u201cstarted, in a way, with impatience,\u201d they write in a directors\u2019 statement. \u201cWe were tired of being told to wait. Wait for policies, wait for leaders, wait for \u2018the right time.\u2019 Meanwhile, the planet was warming, borders were hardening, and whole communities were being left to fend for themselves. We wanted to see what happens when people stop waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe filmmakers note, \u201cWe were standing at the front lines of a climate crisis that was already reshaping politics in ways impossible to ignore. But how do you approach something that vast and overwhelming?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur unexpected answer arrived during the pandemic, on a Zoom call. Adam McKay and the Climate Emergency Fund had gathered scientists, organizers, and even a few NASA researchers. We expected grim forecasts. Instead, we got a guide to how change actually happens. Nonviolent civil disobedience, they shared, isn\u2019t chaos. It is a craft. From Gandhi\u2019s Salt March to the Suffragettes chaining themselves to railings. From the lunch counter sit-ins of the civil rights movement to ACT UP\u2019s die-ins during the AIDS crisis. Again and again, disruption has been the lever that moves the immovable. History shows that when people step out of line in disciplined, visible, and inconvenient ways, power responds. The research points the same way. When just 3.5% of a population commits to sustained disruption, governments almost always shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRegarding Climate Defiance, the directors write, \u201cThey broke with decorum. They unsettled polite rooms. At times they unsettled us. That was the point. Discomfort was not collateral damage. It was the strategy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs filmmakers, we followed the activists not to endorse or condemn but to watch. We found a movement both fragile and fierce. They were clever and strategic and often funny. They were also messy, argumentative, and full of doubt. They failed. They regrouped. They tried again. What struck us most was their refusal of despair. Faced with an overwhelming crisis, they insisted on agency and possibility\u2026 The personal risk to protesters like Michael Greenberg is growing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the end, this isn\u2019t simply a film about protest. It is about the stubborn human impulse to fight for a livable future. It is also about the odd mix of defiance, humor, and sheer determination it takes to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTimothy Grucza serves as cinematographer on Just Look Up. Adam Nielsen edited the film; the score is composed by R\u00d8MANS. The documentary soundtrack features songs by an incredible array of talent: along with the aforementioned Chappell Roan, Doechhi, and Billie Eilish, there\u2019s Tyler, The Creator, Childish Gambino, Bob Dylan, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Freg Again, Brian Eno, and Michael Kiwanuka.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you want to lend an ear to the Just Look Up Spotify playlist, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWatch the teaser trailer for Just Look Up here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPDATED to correct that a group called Extinction Rebellion, which shares some members with Climate Defiance, claimed responsibility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[154845,154846,154847,106705,154848,93,61,60,154849,154850,270],"class_list":["post-337165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-adam-mckay","tag-betsy-hershey","tag-climate-defiance","tag-cphdox","tag-emma-wall","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-just-look-up","tag-michael-greenberg","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}