As far as comedy directors go, Adam McKay has a tremendous track record; Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy is one of the funniest movies of all-time and his other works (Step Brothers, last year’s The Other Guys) aren’t too shabby either. Hell, he’s even made a significant impact on the internet, helping to launch Funny or Die a few years ago with Will Ferrell. Those of you like me who have repeatedly watched the Captain Planet video starring Don Cheadle are thankful for that site’s existence.
And now McKay is getting a little more serious…in a producing capacity at least. Deadline reports that he’s signed on to produce a documentary from Jason Pollock who was behind 2008’s The Youngest Candidate, which chronicled younger members of society (age 18-20) who were running for public office. This time around Pollock will be focusing on the rise of dropout rates in American public schools, which has steadily increased over the years.
The documentary will be shooting it during the current school year with a planned release sometime in the Fall of 2012 to coincide with the Presidential Election (subtle). Pollock will be going even one step further, touring the documentary around the country leading up to Election Day itself in order to showcase the issue when the light is shining brightest. Jury’s out on if that will work, but I admire the plan.
And for those you looking for something with more involvement from McKay, production on the third and final season of HBO’s Eastbound and Down has wrapped so look for it sometime next year.
Will a documentary about our failing public school system help bring the issue to light next election season or will it just be another Waiting for Superman, which will be seen by many but result in few changes?