Adam McKay says he ‘f***ed up’ Dick Cheney biopic Vice by not ‘blaming’ Democrats

Film was criticised for its ‘baffling’ tone

Isobel Lewis
Sunday 27 March 2022 14:04 BST
Comments
Vice trailer

Adam McKay has admitted that he thinks he “f***ed up” Dick Cheney biopic Vice.

Released in 2018, the film starred Christian Bale as George W Bush’s vice president.

At the time, Vice divided critics, who called it “busy yet insubstantial” and criticised its “baffling” tone.

In a new interview with The Sunday Times, writer and director McKay said that his critics had been right when it came to the film.

“I f***ed up Vice,” he said.

“I had a heart attack in post production. I made mistakes, read the reviews and went, ‘Yes, fair.’”

McKay said that he regretted “not giving more blame to the Democrats, who went along with the war in Iraq” but had only realised his mistakes six months after the film was released.

Christian Bale as Dick Cheney in ‘Vice’

McKay’s latest film Don’t Look Up was similarly polarising among critics, which the writer says surprised him more.

“No comedy is for everyone,” he said. “I was still surprised by the anger from critics. I saw a comment after the marches in France that said, ‘At least something good came out of that terrible movie.’

“The guy couldn’t just look at thousands marching to save our planet – he still had to hate the movie!”

Don’t Look Up is nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in