Don't Look Up director to produce new movie about 2021 Capitol attack

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The movie will be directed by Billy Ray

Meryl Streep in Don't Look Up
(Image credit: Netflix)

Adam McKay is set to produce a movie about the events of January 6, 2021, when rioters descended on the US Capitol, Deadline reports.

The movie, titled J6, will be written and directed by Billy Ray. He traveled to Washington DC a few days after the event and interviewed members of Congress and police officers – one of these officers, Michael Fanone, was a consultant on the movie's screenplay.

"The goal was to do a ground-level view of a momentous day," Ray said. "It’s about protesters who became rioters and cops who became defenders of democracy. Someone else can tell the story of the chaos at the White House on that day. I wanted to stay in the trenches."

The movie has been described as having a journalistic approach. Deadline reports that it hasn't found a home yet and will be shopped to various studios and streamers very soon. 

Meanwhile, McKay recently directed the dark comedy Don't Look Up, about two astronomers who discover a comet on a collision course with the Earth. Despite the inevitable catastrophic consequences, they struggle to convince the US government or the media that it's worth taking action.

Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.