It’s the Spidermen pointing the finger at each other meme, but for middle-aged, white, male, quippy, liberal Hollywood directors. In an interview on Monday, the New York Times asked The Big Short and Vice director Adam McKay who he thought was the conservative equivalent of himself — someone making explain-y political comedies about the issues, only from an opposite lens — and he answered, “The real right wing in our country is the moderates; the right-wing version of me — maybe this isn’t the best example — is an Aaron Sorkin.†Yes, the producer who makes us stan soulless right-wing #girlboss Shiv Roy on Succession believes that the creator of Democrat fanfiction The West Wing is his conservative counterpart, because the DNC has become fundamentally conservative. That last point may be true, but McKay’s cultural output isn’t exactly Jacobin. Referring to Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, McKay said, “I’m not calling Sorkin a Republican. I’m not calling him a raging right-winger. But I would say Sorkin is slightly right of center. I think that’s fair. His interpretation of that trial was one of supporting the system. There’s a lot of dialogue in that movie about belief in our institutions.â€
McKay positioning himself as the leading leftist, anti-institutionalist voice in Hollywood is cute, but at least he had a hilarious reaction to the news that Zack Snyder wants to make a Fountainhead movie: “Ugh. You can put that in the interview: ‘McKay makes a look like he just ate rancid bacon.’â€