Why Jennifer Lawrence’s character in ‘Don’t Look Up’ should be media-trained

Warning: Spoilers for the Netflix film Don’t Look Up ahead.

It is without a doubt that the media comes off looking very bad in Netflix’s film Don’t Look Up by Adam McKay. This is a film about how the media (and politicians—but we won’t go into that) effectively kills a story that is meant to save the world.

For those who haven’t seen it, scientist Dr Randall (Leonardo Dicaprio) and astronomy PhD student Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence) discover a nine-kilometre-wide comet heading for earth, projected to hit and kill all of humanity in approximately six months. They desperately try to convey this to the public—but are shot down at every point of their ‘communications’ journey.  

Whether it’s a president who refuses to accept the reality of the disaster (“You can’t tell people they have a 100% chance of dying!”), a media industry that refuses to take their concerns seriously (“Can it hit one house in particular... my ex-wife's house?”, or members of the public who make fun of them (Dibiasky being called ‘bipolar’ by the internet). The two main characters certainly face trials and tribulations as they try to communicate the extinction-level threat.

Randall ends up forgetting his message and is ‘bought’ by advertisers, while Dibiasky is silenced because she comes across as too alarmist. The world is ending, and no one seems to give two hoots.

The movie ends unlike most American movies—with a sad ending, one where the world is destroyed.

How could this ending have been avoided? What would have happened if the protagonists had gotten their message through? What if they had been properly trained to deliver their message to the world? Because surely, if you’re going to deliver a message as major as this, you’d want to do everything you can to get it right, right?

Now it may look like we’re sympathising with the media here and trying to make it look less like the bad guy. But we’re not. We’re simply acknowledging the reality that the media is the media, not a court of law. Media outlets are never going to be ‘fair’ as such—they're simply going to toe the line and tell stories that make the most sense to them and their audiences.

Like it or not, the media can be:

1. Opinionated / biased
2. Pressured to get the ‘scoop’ and meet deadlines
3. Looking for help to write their stories
4. People as well.

It is therefore important to know how to approach the media, and to understand and coordinate the media ecosystem for the better. Like it or not, we need the media, and it can be used as a force for good—if you know how.

So how do we ensure that an important message, such as one that could save the world, lands?

Well, it’s not easy...at all. There are a lot of things that must be considered and practiced before you even put yourselves in front of a camera. Let’s take a closer look.

How we would media-train Kate Dibiasky

Frankly, we were quite unimpressed with Randall and how he got distracted and effectively joined the ‘dark side’.

Dibiasky, meanwhile, was unfairly treated in the movie by…everyone. We genuinely think that if she had a few pointers and some coaching, she could have saved the world. As the expert who found the comet and the one the comet was named after, we can see that she genuinely cared about getting the message out there. But perhaps she just didn’t go about it in the right way.

Here’s some advice we have for her:

1. Firstly, we’d say to her: “Ms Dibiasky, we know that you are having a panic attack about the end of the world. It’s understandable, but it is essential that you remain calm. Your message is very important, and it needs to be heard. Otherwise the whole of humanity is going to die. But to be heard, and so that action can be taken, it must be delivered in a clear, calm and controlled manner. We recommend that you take a few moments before entering any discussion or interview about this comet to find your inner calm. Try regulating your breathing, taking some deep breaths, counting to 10, doing some meditation or even going into nature before the interview."
    
2. We would then remind her of the importance of practicing and rehearsing what she’d like to say in front of a mirror or in front of a camera (her own). The most important thing is to not leave things until the last minute. And practice until she is happy with her delivery.
    
3. Get someone to pretend to be a reporter to ask her some really tough questions. See how she does, and practice answering them until she is happy with her delivery. Use these tough questions to correct misconceptions, inconsistencies, and distorted facts. Remember that she is the expert, not the public, so she knows exactly what’s going on.
    
4. Make sure that she knows her key messages very well. What does she want to say?How can she say it most effectively? Are there any soundbites or power quotes that can be used to convey her points? Prepare them and commit them to memory.
    
5. Members of the media may have a different agenda than the rest of us, so they may not direct questions to the topics or key messages she wants to raise. Bridging is an efficient way to redirect a conversation. For example, she can use transitions such as: “Exactly, but if there is one thing we think we should remember from this is…“ or “One other way to look at this issue is to…“ She could also leverage a journalist’s question to build an answer, even if it’s not the main one:” You mentioned X and I think we could be expanding on its implications….”
    
6. Another great way to position herself as a welcoming, collaborative figure is to acknowledge a journalist’s specific interest and to thank them for giving her a tribune. By doing this, she can create a situation of collaboration rather than of conflict, and she may have better leeway on where the conversation may go.
    
7. Not everybody is a scientist with the capacity to understand scientific facts. Ahead of the interview, she may want to think of the facts that may be difficult for a non-scientific audience to grasp and try to reframe them into references they may understand. For instance, the 9-km-wide comet could be described as ‘wider than 100 football fields’.
    
8. Flag her key messages. Help the interviewer/public remember by emphasising what she thinks is important. For instance, say “If your listeners only remember one thing, it is this...”
    
9. Despite being the truth (in the movie), there is truth in the statement that no one wants to know they have a 100% of dying from a comet. We would ask Dibiasky if there is a more reassuring way of communicating this. Such as “we have a chance to save the world now, we must come together and act today.”

Here's an illustration of Vero's proposed rewrite of Dibiasky's interview with a popular TV network:

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Catherine Napalai Faulder is the storytelling director, ASEAN, at Vero.