Tom McCarthy's A Statement dramatizes 1980 climate conference

A Statement is a new verbatim drama from Spotlight director Tom McCarthy, based on the true events of the landmark 1980 climate conference. The film pulls roughly half of its dialogue directly from the conference's official transcript, dramatizing a key moment when experts failed to act on fossil fuel emissions.

Tom McCarthy said: "every word said within the conference room walls, roughly half of the movie, is pulled verbatim from the stenographer’s document." Occasional text overlays from the actual transcript appear on screen. The screenplay, worked on by McCarthy, Noé Debré, and Thomas Bidegain, adapts a 10-page section of journalist Nathaniel Rich's 2019 book 'Losing Earth: A Recent History'.

Cast and characters

The ensemble cast portrays the real scientists, activists, and bureaucrats who attended the 1980 gathering. The group consisted of 20 experts summoned by Congress to deliver recommendations.

Additional cast members include Zach Woods, Mary Catherine Garrison, Michael Chernus, Dylan Baker, Michael Cerveris, Alan Aisenberg, and Eli Bildner as an Exxon representative. Bernadette the stenographer is tasked with both recording the event and kissing the awkward young scientist Robert, played by Noah Robbins.

Conference context and failure

The film dramatizes the 36-hour conference held in late October 1980 at the Don CeSar Hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, just days before the election of Ronald Reagan. Every word was recorded into a single document hundreds of pages long. The mandate was to figure out how to address the climate threat from fossil fuels and issue a statement to Congress.

No consensus was reached. David Slade, played by Paul Giamatti, argued U.S. Carbon emissions were small compared to other continents. The presence of an Exxon representative anticipates the oil industry's future influence on climate policy. One participant joked about the need for more research just to change a lightbulb. Nathaniel Rich said: "Losing Earth" documents this history. The group's inability to agree on a statement gave the film its title.

Production and release

Directed by Tom McCarthy, the film's creative team includes director of photography Stuart Dryburgh, composer Bryce Dessner, and editor Jane Rizzo. The production designer is John P. Goldsmith and the costume designer is Melissa Toth. It runs for 104 minutes.

Producers include Jonathan King, David Levine, and Jim Whitaker. Executive producers include Alex Gibney, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Laurene Powell Jobs. The film premiered at the New York Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics is set to release it. The theatrical release date is Friday, Dec. 4. UK and Australian releases are to be announced.

The film includes speculative scenes outside the conference room exploring human connection. It aims to be a humanistic treatise, contrasting with climate satires by emphasizing emotion. The film is set for theatrical release on Friday, Dec. 4 by Sony Pictures Classics.