Tom McCarthy’s film, The Statement, will have its World Premiere at the New York Film Festival and will be released by Sony Pictures Classics. Their statement and plot details as follows:
NEW YORK, NY (AUGUST 11, 2026) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that Academy Award® winner Tom McCarthy’s previously untitled film, A STATEMENT, will have its world premiere at the 2026 New York Film Festival. Written by McCarthy, Thomas Bidegan and Noé Debré, the film is slated to open in 2027.
As previously announced, the cast includes Golden Globe®-nominated Paul Rudd, Golden Globe® winner Evan Peters, Academy Award®-nominated Amy Ryan and Paul Giamatti, Emmy Award® winners John Turturro and Tatiana Maslany, and Actor Award® nominee Jason Clarke. Additional cast includes Noah Robbins, Actor Award® nominee Zach Woods, Tony Award® winner Nina Arianda, Mary Catherine Garrison, Actor Award® nominee Michael Chernus, Emmy Award® nominee Dylan Baker, Tony Award® winner Michael Cerveris, Actor Award® winner Alan Aisenberg, Actor Award® nominee Eli Bildner, Jim Klock, Actor Award® winners Bryan Batt and Christopher Denham, Zak Orth, Billy Slaughter, Joey Slotnick, Aaron Jay Rome and Ari Golin.
Based on Nathaniel Rich’s revelatory book Losing Earth, A STATEMENT is a dramatic, darkly comic, true story that asks if it’s possible for any group of people to sit together and tackle the problems of our time when we can’t agree on how to arrange the chairs. The film takes place at a beachside resort in Florida in 1980, where twenty experts gather for a weekend conference on a global issue that is starting to gain traction: the effects of Co2 emissions on the climate. This group of scientists, activists, and policymakers have one simple mandate from Congress — write a statement about what to do. Easier said than done.
Sony Pictures Classics co-financed A STATEMENT, which is produced by Jonathan King, David Levine for Anonymous Content, Jim Whitaker, Tom McCarthy for Slow Pony. Jonathan Schwartz, Nick Shumaker, and Bard Dorros of Anonymous Content serve as producers alongside Mary Aloe of Aloe Entertainment. Executive Producers include Rae Baron for Slow Pony; Alex Gibney, Wendy Schmidt, Richard Perello, and Robert Kessel for Jigsaw Productions; Matt Damon and Ben Affleck for Artists Equity; Alex Lebovici for Hammerstone Studios; Thomas Bidegan, Noé Debré, and Nathaniel Rich; Billy James Parrott; Laurene Powell Jobs and Davis Guggenheim for Concordia Studio; Andrew Lauren on behalf of Andrew Lauren Productions; Rob Rosenheck for Galisteo Media; Blye Faust; and Jeremy Strong. Anonymous Content brokered the book to film deal alongside Cheney Literary Agency on behalf of Nathaniel Rich.
“Following the passing of major legislation in the previous decade, in 1980 Congress requested leaders from different sides of the climate issue to convene and provide guidelines and instruction to the government on how to address the crisis of reducing America’s dependence on fossil fuels. This is the focus of Tom McCarthy’s urgently relevant and incredibly entertaining film, which features a phenomenal cast. The NYFF is the perfect place to present its world premiere,” said Sony Pictures Classics.
This movie can either be great or terrible, I figure, depending on how heavy McCarthy puts his thumb on the scale to tell the audience what to think rather than allow them to come to their own conclusions. The problem with Hollywood now is that they think they have to deliver THE MESSAGE because that, they believe, will change the world. But it has the exact opposite effect because most people have tuned them out by now.
The way this plot is explained, however, it sounds like he’s more or less getting into the territory of realizing something along those lines. Either way, I look forward to it. It looks pretty good.
