Episode 16: Idiocracy LIVE feat. Co-Screenwriter Etan Cohen
Sometimes it feels like we’re living in a movie.
Idiocracy, an over a decade-old movie, is set in a world where corporations have taken over, the population’s IQ has declined dramatically, and the president is a reality TV star. Now a cult-classic, people on both sides of the aisle are starting to wonder did this 2006 comedy predict the future?
Before you go any further, we recommend you watch the film. It’ll make this podcast way more interesting.
Thursday, February 8th, Idiocracy co-screenwriter Etan Cohen joined Christopher Robichaud for a screening of Idiocracy followed by a live episode of This Week in Dystopia. Tune in to hear Cohen discuss what didn’t make it into the film, the relationship between comedy and reality, and how social media would have changed the story.
“Reality was getting ahead of the movie as we were writing it. Crocs, we thought those were ridiculous…”
“It made people on the right angry, it made people on the left angry.”
Director and screenwriter Etan Cohen is known for penning such films as IDIOCRACY, TROPIC THUNDER, and MEN IN BLACK 3. His directorial debut, GET HARD, which he wrote with Jay Martel and Ian Roberts, starred Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. Cohen wrote and directed HOLMES AND WATSON, starring Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Rebecca Hall, which will be released this year. He received the Comedy Writer of the Year Award at the 2009 Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and graduated from Harvard in ’97.
Check out more picture of the event here.
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This podcast is produced by Harvard Ash Center.
