Beginning with an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2006, Al Gore's groundbreaking “An Inconvenient Truth” film about climate change has impacted Hollywood and paved the way for more global warming movies.
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In an article from America’s Future Foundation titled “Hollywood’s Inconvenient Influence,”
Kent Sholars cites that Matt Drudge said that the Oscar “cemented Gore’s position as ‘King of Hollywood”’ and that film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.”
In its wake, there’s been an onslaught of climate change films with filmmakers hoping to make a similar impact. For example, in 2007, actor Leonardo DiCaprio narrated “The 11th Hour,” a documentary that utilizes weather disaster footage and expert commentary to explore the perilous state of the planet in the wake of climate change.
Another film in the same vein is “Chasing Ice,” directed by James Balog. The action follows Balog on his expedition to the Arctic. Through dramatic timelapse videos, Balog, a professional photographer, illustrates the melting of ice caps and glaciers.
There has also been talk of a sequel “An Inconvenient Truth” in April of this year. "We have had conversations," producer Lawrence Bender said in
The Hollywood Reporter. "We've met; we've discussed. If we are going to make a movie, we want it to have an impact."
Bender recently accepted an award at a Beverly Hills fundraiser, which collected $700,000 for UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. At the gala, which was attended by Courteney Cox, Anjelica Huston, and other luminaries, the filmmaker referenced the film’s impact on society, "At the time, we hoped to provoke a global conversation about climate change … Our new inconvenient truth is that not nearly enough concrete action has been taken."
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